A Thousand Years
by Gaara's Desert Rose-Hasame
Summary: Six years after she left, Hasame has now learned to adapt to her new life with her mother, brother and sister in law and her new niece. But something happens that leaves her devastated. Sequel to Tricked into Meeting. T for langauge, as always.
1. Chapter 1

OMG! ITS THE SEQUEL! YESH YESH! this is my sequel for Tricked into Meeting! aaaand, there are a few twists long the way. I like twits...I mean twists. I dont like twits. Theyre too...twitty. Anyway, welcome to A Thousand Years (Inspired by the song by Sting) well, I hope you all loved Tricked into Meeting, then your definitly gonna love this one.

A Thousand Years 1

I handed out Halloween candy to a few children when a few teenagers about 14 years old had dressed up as anime characters came to my doorstep. I instantly recognized which anime, but asked,

"What show are you guys from?" And while handing out candy, the one with red hair and black rimmed eyes said,

"Naruto. It's all about ninjas and stuff! We love it!" and with his candy filled bag, he whacked his friend over the head, who had purple face paint on his face and laughed maniacally as the one clad entirely in black chased him, leaving the girl with four spiky pigtails giving me a nervous laugh before running after them.

"Hold up you guys! Hey! Cut it out! Don't make me hit you with my fan!" She cried out, and the boy dressed as Gaara stuck out his tongue. The Temari-costumed girl grumbled about him being immature, then they all decided to chase the boy as Kankurou. I watched them, not even noticing the little children at my doorstep, waiting eagerly for candy. So, with that encounter still fresh in my mind, my heart tugged painfully at the memory of 6 years ago, on my Halloween. I Temari, Noah Gaara and Raven Kankurou. Then Aya was Sango from Inuyasha.

oOoOo

I heard movement upstairs and I quickly snapped out of my flashbacks and turned off the television. I was watching the news, but not really, and my head snapped up in the direction of the bedrooms. Down the stairs came my ruffled looking brother holding a yawning Sakura in his arms. His blonde hair was even messier than before, and his pajamas were rumpled. It had been many years since I left Suna, and baby Sakura was growing up fast. She was six years old, and could talk in complete sentences and everything. She was eager to go to school, and still loved to play with my hair.

My brother set her down and she ran over to me, jumping on my lap.

"Heya Auntie Hasame!" She said cheerfully, before taking my hair in her hands and absentmindedly began to braid it. I taught her how to, and that's all she would do with my hair.

"Good morning Sakura. How are you this morning?" I asked, forcing a smile on my lips. She grinned hugely, before her face fallling.

"I had a bad dream last night." She said quietly, and her hands stopped braiding my onyx hair. I looked at her in concern.

"Wanna tell me about it?" I offered, and I saw my brother freeze beside the fridge. He was listening too, I could tell.

"Well...I was in this big big place, bigger than this house, and there was lots and lots of sand everywhere. I was calling out for daddy and mommy, but they weren't there. So, I started to get upset, then I was calling for you, and you didn't come either. Then this scary man appeared, he was made all of sand, and kinda walked up to me." I rose an eye brow at her.

"'Kinda' walked up to you?" I repeated, and she nodded.

"Well, He almost floated. Anyway, he came at me, and all the sand was moving like a twister around me, and I woke up." She ended, and continued to play with my hair. I was silent for a while, before shooting a look at my brother. He was thinking the exact same thing as me. Maybe I shouldn't have sung the girl to sleep every night with that song.

"Were you scared?" I asked, and it was a dumb question. Of course she would be scared.

"No...Not really. I was just really surprised. He was really scary, Auntie Hasame, but...He was sort of like a daddy. Like, I get this feeling that hes watching over me, like Daddy does!" She ended on a happy note, before smiling at her father, who gave her a grin back. I was shocked at her answer.

"What...do you mean, he felt like a daddy?"

"Um...I guess he felt more like you. You're like my second mommy, even though I have a real mommy, you feel different from my mommy. And when I see him in my dreams, he feels the same way like you do. Like a second daddy" I could understand in a way of what she was saying. You have a love for your parents, and you have a love for your aunts and uncles and other relatives. So, what she was saying was that he felt like a family to her, even though he frightened her, he was a good person. I sighed, and Sakura looked at me.

"Somethin' wrong, Auntie Hasame?" She asked innocently, and I shook my head.

"No, nothing really."

oOoOo

"Hasame, sis, can you take Sakura out or something? Tamara and mom are out shopping, they'll be back tonight, and I am so tired. I think I'm coming down with something, I feel like crap. And I need to be alone." Coughed my brother, and I nodded.

"No problem. Hey Sakura!" I called, entering the kitchen. The blonde haired girl looked around at me from behind the table, who was looking for a pencil. She had this knack for drawing, and she was getting pretty good. For a six year old.

"Yeah Auntie Hasame?" she replied, before picking up a pencil and now looking for paper.

"Do you want to go out tonight? Your daddy's not feeling well, and your mommy and my mommy are going to go shopping. They'll be back tonight, but I think daddy needs to be alone." I explained, before handing her a bunch of paper. She nodded in thanks then said,

"Alright, I hope daddy'll get better soon." She said woefully, then looked up at me, her emerald eyes shining.

"Where are we going?" I thought for a minute, then grinned.

"Well...It's a surprise." I said, bending down and poking her forehead playfully. Sakura's face drooped.

"Aw no fair! Tell me please!" She moaned, and hopped excitedly up and down. I shook my head, an amused grin playing on my lips. She stopped and stared at me. I stopped smiling and looked at her in concern.

"Something wrong?" I asked, and she pointed at me.

"That smile you did. It's the same as the sand man in my dreams." Sakura said quietly, then laughed.

"That's funny! It's almost like you two have met or something!" I blinked and chuckled along with her.

"Yeah, pretty funny..."

I loaded Sakura in her booster seat in the car, before getting into my own seat and did up the seat belt then starting the car. Pulling out of the driveway, I drove off to my destination. I looked at the dashboard mounted clock. About 6 oclock. It was close to Sakura's bedtime, but she didn't have day care tomorrow, so I thought a special night of staying up late wouldn't hurt. I pulled into the store, got out and unbuckled Sakura. She hopped out and looked at the store.

"A...book store?" I nodded, and took her by the hand before leading her inside. I looked around, spotted what I was searching for and showed her the books. Selecting one, I flipped to the first page.

"You see this Sakura? I'm going to show you my favourite show and book when I was little. About fourteen years old. It's called Naruto, and it's about three kids, a blonde boy named Naruto, a black haired boy with Sasuke, and..." Showing her a large scale picture of a pink haired kunoichi, she squealed in excitement.

"Hey! Her name's Sakura! Like mine!" She said and took the book immediately from my hands. After about five minutes of her sucked into the manga, she tugged on my sleeve, getting my attention.

"Hey hey, auntie Hasame, who's this?" She pointed a stubby finger at a familiar male with red hair and black rimmed eyes, the Kenji love on the left side of his forehead.

"This...This is Gaara, Sakura. Did you know that...He controls sand?" I said inquiringly, and her green eyes widened.

"Like in my dreams..." She said in a hushed voice, and my head snapped to her.

"Is...Is that the man in your dreams?" I said quietly, and she had a look of decision on her little face. Slowly nodding, she looked at me.

"I guess...If he was made of sand, I guess." She then held the book up to my face, and saw her emerald orbs flicker between the picture of Gaara and I.

"You have the same eyes." She said in a deadpane tone, which sounded very strange coming from a six year old. I blinked, then remembered the black around my eyes from not sleeping.

"It's because he can't sleep, and neither can I. So, we have dark circles around our eyes." I explained.

"Like a panda!" She squealed in delight, and giggled, before sitting down on the ground by the window, and read the manga quietly. A few times, she would tug on my pant leg or sleeve and ask what a word mean, how it was pronounced, and what this person was doing and why.

After about an hour, Sakura ran up to the counter and thrust the book to the man behind the cash register. I walked up and gave him the correct amount of money, and he smiled as Sakura took the book, her face bright and anxious to read it again, and said,

"You have a very cute daughter there, miss. Great interest in books I see." I laughed dryly, and shook my head.

"Not my daughter. She's my niece. Her family is at home." I corrected and he sad a quiet 'oh' before handing me the reciept.

Taking Sakura back to the car, I was about to pull out of the parking lot and into the driveway when a fire engine came screaming past, heading down west, where we were heading.

"Whoa! A fire truck!" Cried out Sakura and pressed her face to the window, trying to follow where it was headed. I drove behind it, as it was heading the same way we were. Something tugged at the back of my mind, and an urgency began to rise inside of me.

"Auntie Hasame, why are we following the fire truck?" Asked Sakura innocently. She wasn't catching on as quick.

"Because...it's going the same way we are." I said softly, the red and yellow lights lighting the inside of our car every other second. I saw her confused face in my rear view mirror, and I focused back on the road. I saw smoke billowing from a house nearby. A house in our neighbourhood. People were swarming and I saw a few police cars blocling people from approaching any further. Approaching nearer to the smoke, I heard Sakura scream behind me.

"AUNTIE HASAME! OUR HOUSE!! OUR HOUSE!" She shrieked and slammed her hands on the window, tears already streaming down her porceline cheeks. I reacted quickly, and hopped out of the car, pulled out Sakura and was about to run up to it when a police officer stopped me.

"Sorry miss, but you can't-"

"My brother and sister and mother are in there!" I yelled over the roar of the fire, and the engines of the cars. Sakura was crying and holding my pants to her face, her small body shaking from sobbing. I picked her up swiftly and held her tightly, my shirt soon becoming wet from her tears. I could only watch as the fire fighters would hose out the house, drenching it with water, but the fire still blazed uncontrollably.

"If we don't get it under control, it'll spread to the other houses!" I heard a fire man say to his chief, and I stared at the house. I glanced around, found a fire hydrant close to our house. I put down Sakura, ordered her to stay here and ran to the fire hydrant. I gathered chakra to my foot, before kicking off the cap and send a power spray of water aiming at our burning house. It soaked the base, and I figured that would help with putting out the fire. Racing back to Sakura, I picked her up and watched from a distance, the heat bothering me too much. Amazingly, I was too calm for this sort of tragedy. Sakura's sobs didn't cease, and she could not look at the house, it's flames now dying down. Soon, the same police officer marched over to me, and I suspected the worse.

"Miss? Are you Hasame Chiaki?" I nodded and he looked at his note book.

"I'm very sorry to say this but..." I cut him off, nodding, saying silently I understood. He nodded gravely and walked back to the crowd. Sakura lifted her head to look at me, eyes red and puffy from crying and her face wet.

"Are mommy and daddy..." I looked down at her, no emotion on my face. Her bottom lip trembled and she burst into new sobs, burying her face into my shoulder, my black hair covering her head. Rubbing her back, I shushed her.

"We h-have n-no where t-to go n-now!" She sobbed, and I started.

"No we don't." I said, and she stopped crying to look at me. Dispite her sorrow, she looked confused. I gave her a dry grin, before telling her to hold on tight and pumped chakra to my feet, speeding to a certain house. If I remembered correctly, tomorrow night was Halloween. And in a few hours, it would be midnight.

oOoOo

I cradled the now softly whimpering but alseep Sakura in my arms as I sat on the steps of the huge house, the mark still etched into the front door. This was the last place I wanted to be, but it was somewhere to go. I glanced at my watch. Twelve minutes till midnight. I looked back at the house, and reached out to the front door, tracing the Sunagakure sign with my hand. Heaving a heavy sigh, I collected my thoughts.

It had been six years since I was last at this house. It had seemed so much longer. I wondered if my friends would recognize me...I hadn't changed all that much. My hair was definitly longer, as I liked it long. The black around my eyes was more pronounced than ever, and my silvery blue eyes...well, were the same. I was 26 years old now, and though I had a loving family around me...pardon, HAD a loving family, I was silent. I never felt true warmth in my heart, even with Sakura with me everyday. It was cold like my cool pale skin.

I glanced at my watch again. Three minutes. I tapped my foot impatiently on the stone steps. Jesus, three minutes sure drags by when your waiting.

I decided to busy myself with braiding Sakura's long hair. It had grown out long too, like mine. She was like my mini me, except...well, in many ways, she was differenent. But she liked to be considered as my 'mini me', no matter how opposite we looked. I pulled my knee up, draping my free arm across it, and staring out onto the other streets, my other hand twirling her blonde hair around my finger. Good god, I wonder what everyone will think of me when I come to see them at midnight. I glance again at my watch. I perked up when it was half a minute to go. Carefully picking up Sakura, I whispered in her ear,

"Oh Sakura-chan (she wanted to be called that after she was reading Naruto in the book store), would you like to meet someone?" She woke up slowly, and nodded sleepily, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. I waited a few seconds, before twisting the door knob of the enormous house, and it swung open noislessly. Perfect.

I stepped in and shut it silently, Sakura now waking up fully.

"Hasame...kun, where are we?" She said. She was trying to get the honorifics right with my name.

"Hasame-_chan_, Sakura-chan. And we are in Panda's house." I whispered to her. Her green eyes sparkled and she giggled quietly.

"Do I get to meet Panda?" She said in a hushed tone, her smile hidden behind her hand. I nodded and looked around the house. If I remembered correctly... Taking her upstairs, I put a slender finger to my lips, telling her to be very quiet. She mimicked me and giggled. I closed my eyes, trying to map out where everyone's rooms where.

"Now, Sakura-chan, we are going to see a girl. She has brown hair, and is a very nice lady. I think you will like her when you meet her. She is my age, and she has a boyfriend names Sasuke-kun, do you remember him?" I pulled out the book from my bag and flipped to a page, and pointed at the black haired Uchiha and she nodded.

"He isn't very nice to Sakura-chan." She mumbled, but I smiled.

"That's because he loves this lady in this room." I said, and pointed to the door in front of us. Setting her down, I again raised a finger to my lips. Opening the door silently, I walked in at a low crouch and masked my chakra. Appearing beside the bed, I waved to Sakura and she watched me intensely. I stared at the blanket covering the person's head, but I saw brown hair sticking out. My eyes flickered towards something besides me and the bed in the room. A crib. I smiled. Opening my mouth, I said in a serious tone,

"Well well, what have we got here? A man and a woman in a bed together? Naughty naughty, Nii-chan!" The woman in the bed jumped so much she fell out of the bed, about to scream but I clamped a hand over her mouth. She couldn't see me in the dark, but I said reassuringly for her sake (and mine)

"Don't fuss. I'm going to wake up the Uchiha." She didn't move, and I crawled onto the bed, and positioned my head over the male's ear.

"Itachi's here, Sasuke!!" I said in a loud voice, and instantly, Sasuke lept out of bed into a fighting stance, kunai ready and clad in his dark boxers. His head wipped around and when he saw Aya on the floor, and a dark figure (me) crouched on the bed, stiffling a laugh, he held the kunai to my throat.

"Who are you? What do you want." He growled, and I snickered.

"Oh, Sasuke-kuuun, don't you remember me?" I said, drawling the honorific. He looked confused in the dark, and Aya stumbled to her feet and flicked on a light. The moment she saw me she looked about ready to scream, but I slid out from under Sasuke's kunai (somehow) and slapped my hand to her mouth.

"Now, Nii-chan, you can't go ruining my plans, can you?" I said, grinning at her. I saw tears streaming down her cheeks, and I let go, and the moment I did this, she attached her self to me, wrapping arms around me tightly.

"Oh my god, Hasame!" Was all she said in a hoarse whisper, and I had to pry her off of me.

"Quiet. I want to you meet someone." I motioned for Sakura to enter the room. She stepped forward, fingers pointing together in nervousness and she looked around shyly.

"This is Sakura Chiaki. My niece." I informed Sasuke and Aya and Aya gazed at the little girl.

"You introduce yourselves, while I need to go wake up a certain...sandman." I shot a mischevious look at Sakura, who perked up and ran to me.

"No! I want to meet Panda!" She whispered anxiously, and Sasuke rose an eyebrow at me.

"She thinks we look like pandas." I said, pointing at my eyes. I took Sakura by the hand and led her silently to the said ninja's bedroom. I creeked open the door, and stepped onto the sand. If I remembered correctly...he was a moderatly deep sleeper. Doing the same crouch walk, I put my face inches from the male's and winked at Sakura before singng,

"_Mr.Sandman, bring me a dream_

_Make him the cutest that I've ever se-_"

The red head's eyes shot open, and stared at my half grinning face. Definitly not a warm grin, mind you.

"Hello Gaara-teme. Remember me?" I hissed, my canines glinting from the moon. He sat up and sand wrapped around my throat. Why was everyone going for my throat?

"What the f-" I slapped my hand over his mouth, and he looked shocked at me.

"Mind your language please." I managed to say. His jade eyes flickered to the door, and I saw them widen in astonishment at the now frightened Sakura. She was staring at Gaara who had me by the throat, and was about to back away, when his sand fell away from me. I coughed a bit, then beckoned Sakura forward. She didn't at first, then slowly, took tentative steps towards me. Putting an arm around the child shoulders, I looked at Gaara, whos eyes were still widened slightly, staring at the girl.

"This is Sakura. Sakura, this is-"

"Panda." She said in a whisper and he frowned at the word.

"Gaara." I corrected, and whispered in her ear, but loud enough for Gaara to hear, "You can call him Panda when you're around me. I don't think he'll like it."

He snapped his head to me, and I smirked at him. She then whispered in my ear,

"I thought you said he couldn't sleep?"

"Well...he can now. You can read about it later on, or I'll explain it to you later, alright?" Gaara watched us, still frowning as we whispered in front of him.

"What the...What are you doing here?" He hissed dangerously, and I felt Sakura shrink in my arms. Holding her tighter, I answered,

"Something happened and this is like my second home." His face darkened.

"This is no longer your home. You left, remember?" His voice, dripping with venom, cut the air from my lungs.

"Of course I remember, idiot. I left because of you." I returned with hatred filling my words.

"But of course, you forget what happened when you left!?"

I stopped and stared at Gaara, his face contorted with anger. Sakura leaned to my ear again,

"Did something happen? What does Panda mean 'when you left?'"

"I'll explain to you later Sakura. Later, I promise. Just not now. Go find Sasuke and Aya, alright?" Sakura nodded and scurried away, leaving me and Gaara alone. She shut the door, and I heard her little feet pattering away.

"Who the hell was that child?! Your's?!" He said, his temper rising along with his voice.

"No! She's my niece for god's sake! Don't tell me your actually getting jealous!" I retorted, and he shot me a murderous look.

"You just come in here, in the middle of the fucking night, with a 6 year old child. Who WOULDN'T get suspicious!!" He growled, but I did not flinch.

"Listen here, I came back because her family, and mine, just died last night in a fire. And we've lost everything. I came here because it was a last resort." Snarling, I got up and turned when something grabbed my wrist. I immediately thought sand, but it was skin, not sand.

"Don't you even think of leaving now." I heard him say silkily, and I turned just in time to get his lips crashing against mine, him having slid out of bed in a split second. His hand moved up my arm to my back, bringing me closer to his body. His other arm moved around my waist, as if protecting me. I was shocked, but let him kiss me, then after a few seconds, I pushed back on his lips, returning the kiss. I swore I heard him purr in content as I wrapped my arm around his neck. I was confused, surprised, full of love and full of hate. I had just spent my entire 6 years half hating him, then thinking back to his kiss he gave me the moment I was about to leave, and his plead for me not to leave. But I betrayed him and left. I figured he'd hate me forever now, but it looked like a negative.

I pulled away for air, and I stared at him, slight confusion etched on my features.

"I never did forget you. I hate you for leaving." He growled in my ear and felt his arms tighten around my waist and shoulders. "But...I think I might be able to forgive you...just this once." Gaara said huskily before stealing another kiss and letting me go.

"I'm going to sleep...You do whatever you do." He said and went to his bed, flipping the sheets over top of him. I again was confused, but let him do what he wanted, then left the room with Aya, Sasuke, Temari, Kankurou, Noah, Raven and Sakura all at the door. I stared at them all in slight surprise, when Temari's hand shot out, grabbed my cheeks and looked at my intensly, peering at something.

"You're gonna make me swallow my tongue." I said through my squished lips, and she let go.

"Yup. This people, is a sign of someone recently been kissed." She announced and pointed to my lips. I felt them, wondering how on earth she could have guess by mearly looking at my lips, and looked up at everyone, who was grinning at me, except Sasuke, who was too cool for that. Sakura was giggling and pulled me down.

"Did you really kiss Panda?" She whispered, her little lips forming a huge smile. I grinned and gave her a curt nod. She squealed and hopped around like a rabbit.

"You're all eavesdroppers." I said in a deadpan tone, and they all laughed.

I cannot describe the greeting everyone gave me. For 6 long years, I was gone from their lives, and I come back in the middle of the night like a fox and just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Noah and Raven and Aya bombarded me with questions and when they got to the part on how Sakura (6 year old Sakura) came into the picture, I quickly said that I would explain later. I had to introduce Sakura to everyone, and explain that she was my niece, not my daughter. If I thought Noah and Raven were tall at 20, they were now towering over me. Aya was a clear foot taller than me, and apparently, while I was gone, she and Sasuke had gotten married a month before. I stared at Aya's ring, turning her hand over to see it in full detail.

"Wow. It's lovely, Aya." I congratulated her, and she grinned before earning a kiss from Sasuke on the lips.

"And I think I saw a little someone in the room with you two, correct?" At this Sasuke split into a rare grin.

"That is..." Sasuke looked at Aya, who nodded and looked at me. "That, is our three year old child, Hasame." I blinked at my best friend, and smiled softly at her. They had named their first born after me. Probably thinking they would never see me again. I glanced at Raven and Noah, and immediately noticed the flustered look about Raven. Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I grinned before turning my attention to him from across the dinner table.

"So, Raven. Anything new in your life? Anything concerning...a loved one?" I asked slyly, and he gave me a nervous smile, before clearing his throat roughly, running his fingers through his messy, yet slightly curly hair. It was the same length before I left. I felt a pang of guilt for leaving...But I had a good reason. At the time.

"Oh yeah, he does! Do you remember that girl with the dark blue kimono? Weeell, I say Raven here got lucky!" This said, Noah was rewarded with a mini fist fight with Raven, all the while a furious blush over his cheeks and nose.

"He's married too!" Noah yelled over the noise they were making. I opened my mouth slightly in astonishment. And at this, Noah raised a fist to my face after Raven had given up the fight. I looked at the fist two inches from my nose, and saw the silver band reflect off his third finger. I blinked and looked over the clenched hand to see a grinning Noah, his smile revealing his teeth.

"And who would this lucky lady be?" I asked, resting a hand on my cheek, staring at Noah with no emotion on my face. I was trying to look serious, but a smile kept on tugging at the corners of my lips.

"Her name is Kimyko, and she is a hott one!" He boasted and I snorted, before bursting out laughing.

"Aaaand, I've got a beautiful little boy too." He announced, his face beaming. I gave him a half smile. "My four year old son, Hatori." Regaining a calm facade, I looked at him in the eyes, slowly scanning over my friends.

"So, let me get this straight...you all got married...all at once?" They laughed at my pathetic joke, but Aya shook her head.

"Noah and Kimyko first, then Raven and Atari, they have a kid too by the way. Her name's Suki, three months old. Then Temari and Shikamar-"

"WHAT!?" I yelled, and whipped my head to face the now 28 year old. She nodded, a smile playing across her lips. She pointed upstairs, indicating Shikamaru was probably still asleep in bed. I snickered, and she blushed, before looking away out the darkened window.

"We too have a child. His name's Kyou, and he's going to be five next month." She said, and I nodded before snapping my attention back to Aya.

"Any other marriages that I haven't heard of? Oh wait, I haven't heard of any marriages." I said to her, and it looked like I was making her uncomfortable at the mention of my leaving. Nodding my head in apology, she continued,

"Well Kankurou is engaged to...Guess who?" I was stuped. I had no idea Kankurou liked anyone, and scanning though the lists of girls that I was familiar with from the Naruto world in my head. I had no idea.

"You'll never believe this. Hyuuga Hinata!" She squealed and for a few seconds, I blinked nonchalantly at her, then I whipped my head to face Kankurou so fast, my neck cricked. Rubbing it slowly, I stared at him.

"THE Hinata that was so shy that she could barely talk to Naruto, the Hinata who fidgeted and studdered with every word?" I asked, as if there was some other Hyuuga Hinata in the world that Kankurou was possibly engaged to. He nodded, once more, I saw a delighted grin on another face. I shook my head, mouth opened wide and whistled through my teeth.

"Wow." I said, and they all laughed."When's the wedding?"

"Two weeks from now." He announced happily. I nodded, looking at Aya through my black hair.

"So...What happened after that? I need to know EVERYTHING." I pushed.

"Then, Sasuke and I married last, and...that's it!...Sort of..." My ears perked at the sort of. Giving her a stern look, I said,

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" She squirmed under my intense stare, demanding her silently to tell me what else had happened.

"Well...It's just...Gaara's-" She was cut off by my look of slight horror. The brunette shook her head, and wouldn't look at me in the eyes. I noticed everyone else was uncharacteristically quiet, and I whipped my head about.

"What did Gaara do? What did he do? Guys, answer me." I said harshly, but they were reluctant to tell.

"If you won't say, I'll be left to suspect the worse." I warned, and Aya finally blurted out,

"Well...He's been kinda...sort of...been going to alot of parties..and bars and stuff, go for hours, and then just...not come back home till like the next day and...I can't say he would look happy, or even remotely content. But he always smelt odd. He never paid attention to any of us, and when we would mention you, he'd get all angry, and storm out of the house, and not come back till like two days later or more." I stared at my best friend, who reddened, and her blue eyes trailed off, not looking at me at all.

So, Gaara was being a big ol' pimp while I was gone. What, did he think sleeping with other women would make him forget about me or something?

"He would be with other women...alot, always different girls. But he never looked happy with them, or even...y'know." Aya said, nibbling her bottom lip in apprehension. I knew she was waiting for my reaction. I was sort of in a shocked state. What if I was another one of his women that he played with? Was I two going to be discarded along with other bimbos that had seduced him? My eyes flickered upstairs once, not going unnoticed by anyone, but I looked back at Aya determindly. Placing the tips of my fingers together, I watched her.

"Go on." I said quietly, trying to keep my cool. This wasn't going very well for my first day back after 6 years of isolence from my friends.

Aya quickly shook her head, saying, "I don't think so." And she tilted her head down, so her bangs covered her eyes. I was left blinking at the top of her brown head. She got up and sat on the other side of Sasuke, watching me. I was stuck staring at the chair, a million thoughts flying through my head at a thousand kilometers per hour. There was crying from above, and Aya stood up, mumbling about going to get Hasame (the infant). I never heard everyone else get up after that and leave me alone, gazing at the chair, and only when Sakura touched my arm did I snap out of my glued state, looking at her. She reached up, and brushed my cheek, then took it away, peering at her hand. It was wet with tears.

"Your crying, Auntie Hasame. Are you hurt?" She asked, her small voice full of concern. At her words, I nodded, and I felt myself breakdown inside. The tears came more freely and I picked Sakura up, held her close to my chest and sobbed into her long blonde hair. Yes, I was hurting. I was hurting so bad from everything that had happened yesterday, tonight, and the past six years.

"Yes, Sakura-chan. I am hurt." I whispered into her hair.

No one would ever know how much I was hurting inside. I was torn into a thousand pieces.

xxxx

Wow. Draaamatic! But, isnt it a weird twist for an ending of this chapter? I mean, youd think everything would be all fine and dandy, now that Hasame's back, right? And especially when Gaara kissed her!! I mean, come ooon! That's a sure fire sign of a good beginning/ending, right? Right? Take another look dearies, and get a glimpse of my style of writing. Happy endings come at a price with me. And that price is reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright alright i know its been QUITE a long time since i've last updated because my laptop battery died, and i went to plug it into the charger, but the charger was busted. So then my dad went to go buy a new one and it took him weeks. THEN! Since I had exams, I cant type until my exams are over! cries so, it took me a while. But, i now have writers block.   
Audience: gloom  
Yeah...BEAR WITH ME! I ATTRACT WRITER'S BLOCK LIKE A MAGNET! IM A WRITER'S BLOCK MAGNET! HA! alright, just read.

A Thousand Years 2

I found myself lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling with Sakura's head on my stomach, her body on the bed, fast asleep. Tears rolled down the side of my face and mingled with my black hair splayed across the white pillow. I found myself once again hating Gaara...At least, I thought so. I was devastated, and my heard pounded from all the emotions running through my mind all night. I had never felt so much all at once. Blinking hard, another salty liquid hitting the pillow, I sighed, Sakura's head rising with my stomach, then falling again. The sun had risen a while ago, but I did no movements to wake up the sleeping child on my stomach, nor any attempts to even moving. My silvery blue eyes flickered to the clock on my night table. Yes, my bedroom was unused. Left as a guest room. All my things were gone, as I had taken them back to our world and lost it all in the fire. Back to the clock, it read 9 am. Closing my eyes, I looked back to the ceiling, opening them once again.

I had to get up. I had to. If I didn't...well, I don't know really. But I just had to get up and move around or I would go insane. Proping my upper body on my elbows, I reached out to stroke Sakura's blonde hair, gently rousing her.

"Sakura-chan. It's time to get up." I said softly, and she mumbled something, before her green eyes flickered open, looking blurrily at me.

"Auntie Hasame? Hiya..." She said, and yawned hugely, getting off my stomach and stretching like a cat. "Good morning!" She said in a much cheerful tone, then it evaporated quickly.

"Are you still hurt, Hasame-chan? She asked quietly, looking at me with her enormous emerald eyes. I closed my eyes, before sitting up and pulling her into a hug. I nodded into her hair, and she said a small 'oh' before her small arms curled around my waist.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're hurting." The child muttered into my shirt, and I smiled sadly at her.

"It's not your fault. Don't ever think that." I said, pulling her away and brushing a few stray blonde hairs away from her porceline face. I nodded to the door, indicating that we should get up and go downstairs to have breakfast. She nodded and scooted off the bed, running to the door, opening it all the way. I got up and followed her down the stairs, my heart heavy, but displayed as little emotion as I could on my pale features. Entering the kitchen, my friends' heads snapped to me, all silent. Sasuke, Temari and Shikamaru were there too, and were also noiseless, sitting at the kitchen table that had not changed since six years ago. I nodded a good morning to them, and reached for a bowl for Sakura, the milk and a box of cereal. I pulled out the jam, butter and bread. I popped in the bread, and waiting for it to come up again.

"Good morning Hasame-chan." Said Aya, with a hint of pleading in her voice, like she was trying to make me answer in a tone, reassuring her I was fine.

"Morning Aya-chan!" I said, giving her a wide smile, then returned to the toaster. I knew that everyone knew that the smile I just flashed Aya was completely fake. Never did I ever give anyone a greeting like that, even before we came here, and never did I ever say it with a happy tone. It was always a grunt because I never liked mornings. After the long darkness of the night, light was never fun to deal with.

"So...How's it going?" Asked Raven, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Eh, I'm fine! What about you all? Have a nice rest?" I said in the fake cheery tone, and Raven looked slightly pained. The toast popped up and I quickly grabbed it, and dropped it on the plate. I scraped butter on one side, then jam on the other, but while spreading the jam, I was doing it so roughly that I cut the toast in half. Snarling at the toast, I threw it away, and sat with Sakura at the table. Everyone looked away.

"I slept fine." Muttered Noah, and I nodded.

"Good. Good." I said, and bit into my toast, when I heard the stairs creak, indicating someone coming down the stairs. I was only going to look for a brief moment to see who it was, but I froze when I met his pale eyes. Gaara had stopped at the base of the stairs and looked at me, then looked away and marched to the cupboards, not even giving me a good morning.

"Morning, Gaara." I said blankly, and he grunted in response, before slamming the doors shut and revealed a bowl. Selecting a spoon, he sat down at the far end of the table and poured himself his breakfast, I not even looking at him. Sakura, Gaara and I ate our breakfast, while I could feel everyone eyeing us wearily. I knew he had heard our conversation last night. Everyone in the freaking house could have heard it. That's the reason for his behaviour for that morning.

Quickly finishing my breakfast, I turned to Sakura, who had almost eaten all her breakfast.

"Do you want to go outside after, Sakura-chan?" I asked, and she looked up, milk dripping from her chin, nodded and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Taking the bowl, she hopped off her seat and ran to the sink, and on her tiptoes, managed to drop it in without breaking it.

"Yeah!" She exclaimed and grabbed my hand, yanking me out the door.

oOoOo

Once outside, Sakura wanted to go on the swings hanging from the spruce trees that had manage to grow through the dry desert ground. I pushed her on it, her giggling with delight, but when I started to slow down considerably, she turned in her seat, trying to see me from underneath her long blonde hair blowing in her face from rising and falling. When it slowed almost to a stop, she watched me, a sad look on her face. I wasn't looking at her, but at the ground to her left, just staring at it blankly. She took my hand and I looked at her. She said, in her innocent voice,

"Auntie Hasame...Does your head hurt?" She asked, and put my hand to her forehead. I shook my head. She put it to her ear.

"Your ear?" She asked again, and I shook my head.

Placing my hand on her stomach, she looked up.

"Do you have a sore tummy?" I almost smiled at this, but again shook my head in no. Squatting down so I was at her level, I took her hand and put it to my chest.

"No Sakura-chan. This hurts. Can you feel it?" I asked, and she focused hard. Taking her in my arms and sitting on the swing, I swayed gently back and forth on it. Putting her ear to my chest, I asked her again,

"Do you hear it? Now can you guess what hurts?" She looked up, looking unsure at first, and I could have sworn a lightbulb turned on over her head.

"Your heart? Does yout heart hurt?" She asked again, looking at me happily, as if she had won a sort of game. I nodded softly. She then realised what I meant and her face fell. Putting her cheek against my chest, she curled up in my arms.

"My heart hurts too." She muttered.

"How?" I inquired. I heard her sniffle, and I felt a tear roll on my skin.

"Because...Mommy, Daddy and Grandma are gone." She said, and she started to cry. I held her close, rubbing her back and swinging gently on the swing. We both had our hearts broken, and though she was young, and learn to live with it quicker, I didn't think mine would ever heal. Too much had happened to me, taken me on an emotional rollercoaster and ripped my heart apart. I cannot say I was hurting more than her, but it would definitly stick to me longer.

Suddenly, Sakura ceased her tears and looked up at me, wiping her watery eyes.

"Auntie Hasame...How come you don't cry?" I looked down at her, frowning slightly. "I mean, you did cry last night, but besides that, I've never seen you cry. Why is that?" She asked, her wet face now srunched up in confusion. I blinked at her, then stared above her head, resuming my swinging.

For a minute, I didn't answer.

"Because..."I started, and she watched me expectantly, "Probably because, there has not been much to cry about." Sakura looked at me oddly.

"but last night..."

"Too much was happening at once, and it all began to pile up one after another, and then that one last thing just made me really...really lose it." I tried to explain, and she nodded, her blonde hair bouncing with her head.

"But, whenever you stub your toe, and that one time when you broke your knee, you didn't cry." The six year old looked up at me again, confusion etched on her small features. "You didn't even yell." I chuckled dryly at that and ruffled her hair.

"I've experience worse pain than that. So I didn't make a fuss about it." I said, and her lips made an 'o', and she nodded in comprehension. We swung for a long time, and neither of us talked.

"Want to go back inside?" I finally said, and Sakura nodded, and hopped off my lap and trotted to the door. I saw her open it up and slip inside, while I sat on the swing. Gently pushing back, I let myself swing forward, pumping my legs. I felt my long black hair tickle my back, and it fluttered forward when I would swing back.

I had so much on my mind...Little by little, I realised that it was a mistake coming here. My friends were here, yes. Sakura and I had no home back in our world, yes. I finally get to live the life my own way, the way of a shinobi, and I get to actually live with my friends, yes. But was I happy? No.

I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder and I dug my heels in the ground to halt my momentum. Looking up, Aya's blue eyes gazed at me sadly.

"Hasame-nii-chan? Is something wrong?" She asked, and she made this sort of jerking action. I bet she was thinking, "Of course somethings wrong!". I shook my head and looked down at my feet, my heels still in the dirt.

She stood beside me for the longest time, neither of us talking, nor wanting to.

"Are you happy?" I asked. Though it was a very philosophical topic, I was dying to know. I felt her hand tighten on my shoulder, but I didn't glance at her. My eyes were glued to my feet, as I waited for her to answer.

"W-well, not entire-"

"Don't say that. Don't say you weren't because I wasn't there. Were you truly happy after I left? Were you happy when you married Sasuke? Were you happy when you had your child? ARE you happy with the life you live than the one we all had before halloween?" I interreupted her, my head lowering even more. I knew she would say something like that for my sake. But I couldn't allowe her to say that. I _wouldn't_ allow her to say that.

"I-I don't know what you mean." She said, and I shook my head lightly.

"Yeah...Yeah you do." I said, and I heard her sigh.

"Listen...Hasame...I have to be truthful. I was happy with my life. I was very happy that everything has happened to me so far. I don't ever want to go back to our world...My family...well," I glanced up to see her grin. "You know about them." I nodded, still watching her. Her mother had always been unfair to her, never letting me come over because she didn't like me, thinking my appearence was frightening to some point, and that her life back home was always full of yelling and arguments. She would finally get a break from all that when she would go visit her father an hour away.

"When you came back last night...or well, this morning...I was exploding with happiness. I had missed you so much. I was so happy that I cried." Aya said, smiling softly.

"B-but...There's one thing that doesn't make me happy about you returning..." She began, and I sighed.

"We fight." I blurted out, and I knew she was nodding.

"It kills me, Hasame. It really does. I understand what he did hurt you. But...What if he never meant it?" She asked, but I grunted and shot a look downwards angrily.

"Don't say such things. He wasn't even thinking of me. I don't think he even remembered me until now." I spat, flustered.

"But what about what happened-"

"That meant nothing, obviously." I growled, and clenched my hands on the ropes holding up the swing to the tree branch above. She meant when he had kissed me. I bet it was just for show.

"How about you come inside? Everyone's worried." She said softly, urging me to get back in the house. I glanced over my shoulder to see into the kitchen window, and saw them still sitting at the table, none talking, or looking out the window. I sighed, and reluctantly got up and followed Aya back inside. Twisting the door handle and opening it, she stood aside to let me in. I stepped in, looked around, saw Gaara still at the table. I scowled, turned on my heel and went to go back outside. But the door had shut directly in my face. Why, why do difficulties reign my life?

I twisted around, marched to a chair and plunked down on it, crossing my arms and my legs and glared to the left, determined to not look at anyone. I certainly didn't want to be in here if Gaara was. This hate now that I was feeling was at least a tenfold stronger than 6 years ago. Definitly. I didn't think anything would squash my loathing for him now. It was beyond reach.

I heard Aya walk past me, sit down and I saw her not look at me. She stared at her hands beneath the table, and Sasuke put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a peck on the cheek. I refrained from growling, and continued to focus my sight on the wall. There was a bit of shuffling, then Shikamaru cleared his throat.

"Alright, now that we both have you here-"

"What do you mean? Did you plan this?!" I demanded, snapping my head around so fast I got a crick in my neck. Rubbing it, I stared at him furiously. He nodded in response, and I felt my eyebrow twitch slightly. First he goes, then Aya, then Sasuke...I was mentally making of list I was planning to kill.

"As I was saying. Now that we've finally got you two here together, we need to talk." 'Nothing good comes after 'we need to talk' ' I thought.

"Kyou, it's best you go play with Hasame and Hatori." Whispered Temari to her son. I rose an eyebrow at her. "Hatori is Noah-kun's son." I nodded in aknowledgement.

The child was shooed away, and left only the adults in the kitchen. I counted the people at the table. Aya and Sasuke, Temari and Shikamaru, Noah, Raven, Kankurou, Gaara and myself. I wasn't about to ask where the Noah, Raven and Kankurou's wives were. Well, Kankurou's fiancee.

"This isn't a good atmosphere." Shikamaru said, and I tried to not snort. No duh it wasn't a good atmosphere.

"We would rather you two talk about it privately, but we didn't think that was such a good idea." I saw Gaara look at him, and Shikamaru said, "You might kill each other."

I understood. He was trying to crack a joke. But I probably would attempt to murder the redhead.

"So, we decided to take matters into our own hands. You guys gotta talk." I concluded, and neither of us said a word. I wasn't about to talk to him about anything currantly. And by the look on his face, he was in the same boat as me.

I could feel their eyes on us, and I tried to not look at anyone. My stare was glued to the wall, and only the wall. It was my sole friend right now.

"Why won't you talk?" Demanded Noah, and I glared daggers at him. He shot me a hard look back, but I won. He sat back in his seat and folded his arms over his chest, frowning. I didn't want to talk because I was afraid I would...I was afraid I would cry.

Sakura was right. I didn't cry nearly enough for a normal person. It bottled up inside, all these years. The first 6 years of hatred, then confusion. The years at my house, I was silent and had millions of things zooming around inside my head and I never told anyone about them. Years of worry, hatred, confusion, regret, grief and even though I had a loving family around me, I still felt lonely. I never consoled anyone, I never talked to anyone, and I kept it all to myself. But if I had told anyone, I was afraid that I would end up in tears, and I was afraid that I would look weak in front of everyone.

My eyes tilted upward to take a glance at the man across the table from me, his black rimmed eyes narrowed at the ground and his pale blue eyes as empty as ever. His lips were tightened and the only sound that could be heard in the room was everyones gentle breathing. I could swallow up my pride and say I could forgive him...But he knew he had caused me such emotional pain, and that would never fade. He knew that one day I would find out what was going on while I was gone. Yet he still kissed me, tricking me into thinking that everything would be alright now that I had returned. Maybe if he had just confessed beforehand...Everything might have turned out okay. 

Locking my eyes onto Gaara, I started to wonder what he was thinking. Was he possibly regretting doing what he did? Was he making up his mind to at least say something? Or was he just wishing to get out of here and go off somewhere like he always used to do.

I saw out of the corner of my eye Aya lean into Sasuke's ear and whisper something to him. He gently shook his head, hunching his shoulders slightly. I wondered what she had said to get that reaction out of Sasuke. He tilted his head towards Temari beside her, and she tapped Temari's knee. Looking at her, Temari leaned towards her and Aya whispered something again into her ear. Temari's lips slanted, and she hissed something back. Reaching for Shikamaru, she repeated whatever it was in his ear, and he gave her the smallest of nods.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion at Shikamaru, who noticed but ignored my glaring. Abruptly, he and Temari stood up, Raven and Noah following. I stared at them in surprise as they exited the kitchen. This time, I was completely confused. Why the hell did they just leave like that? I snapped my head to look at the remaining people at the table. Kankurou and Aya sat on opposite sides of the table, Kankurou watching Gaara and Aya staring at me. I rose an eyebrow at them, my eyes flickered to Gaara who at the same moment did the same, but I looked away quickly.

"Hasame." Said Aya and I looked up at her. She stared hard at me, her blue eyes never ceasing its lock on me. She raised an arm, and pointed at Gaara. I blinked and frowned.

"Do you like him?" She asked, point blank and straight to the point. This got me blinking many times. My frown grew into a dark scowl, and I snarled,

"'Course not. I hate everything about tha-"

"DO you LIKE him?" She repeated, and I stared at her in bewilderment. What was she saying? I had already answered her no, why did she ask again? Kankurou then jabbed a thumb at me, watching Gaara.

"Same for her." He said, and the look Gaara gave him was priceless.

"No!" We both said, glaring at the two.

What surprised me the most was when Kankurou and Aya both looked at each other...and smiled. Aya stiffled a giggle, and I glowered at her.

"What the hell is so funny?" I demanded, and she turned to see me.

"Both of you..." And she covered her mouth with her hand, small giggles could still be heard. "You're much more alike than you know. Just look at you." Kankurou was grinning, shutting his eyes and clearly was trying not to laugh. I stared for a full minute at Aya, then ordered my neck to look at Gaara. What did she mean we are much more alike than we know? He shifted and stared at me, the same confused look as I was sporting. I didn't see how we were alike. Staring hard, I rose an eyebrow.  
So we had the same eyes, big deal. He can sleep now, I still can't. Thats a difference. Okay, maybe we're both stupid and stubborn, how's that mean we were alike?

We scrutinized each other for a while, still trying to figure out what Aya had meant.

"What do you mean??" I inquired, finally after some time. At that point, she nearly hiccuped from keeping in her laughter.

"You both 'hate' each other," She used air quotiations for the word 'hate', "You both deny liking each other-"

"Thats because we don't." Snapped Gaara finally, and I was about to nod, but halted.

"Hasame, what was it like going back to our world? Were YOU happy?" Said Aya and immediately stopped laughing and looked at me, seriousness etched on her features. I blinked. She was using my question against myself. That sneaky little...

"Why would that matter?" I retorted, crossing my arms again over my chest, and looking at the wall again.

"Same position..." Muttered Kankurou, loudly enough that we could all hear it though. I snapped to look at Gaara. We were indeed sitting with our arms crossed. Hurriedly, I shook my hands and folded them on the table angrily.

"I'm tired of this. I don't know why your trying to do this, but its a waste of your time." I snarled, and stood up abruptly, and had taken two steps when my body froze. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't follow my commande. My neck twisted to the entrance of the kitchen, and I growled angrily. Shikamaru grinned at me.

"Shikamaru!" I yelled, and desired to strike him across the face, but he only marched over to the left, leaving me to copy him and he did a sitting motion, and I sat down in the chair. Suddenly, blue chakra strings wrapped around my torso and around the chair. Shikamaru released me from the ninjutsu and smirked before walking out of the kitchen. I sighed heavily.

"You are not leaving until you both talk." Said Kankurou gravely, and I rolled my eyes.

"Or...We'll talk for you." Chirped Aya, and I looked at her blankly. How was she going to talk for us?

"We, that is Kankurou and I, are going to point out the similarities between you two, if you haven't already seen them." The brunetted said, and Kankurou nodded.

"One: you were both cold at one point. Neither talked unless asked. Two: You both dislike the idea of love, and what conclusion it may result in. Hasame, I know this from past experiences, even before we came here." She gave me a look of knowing at me, and I tried to remember. That's right...A boy had asked me out once, and I was vaguely aware of his fondess of me, but I was not looking for anyone. When he finally took up the courage to ask me out, I down pat said no. I didn't even try to go gentle on him, I just flatly replied no. Another, was when during religion, we were talking about love and how it helps us live. I was 13 at the time, and when our teacher had said that, I had automatically snorted in disgust. It resulted in me having to do an essay on God's love for his creations and stuff. I believe I had failed religion that year.

"Three: and this is an important one...Neither of you are good at hiding the fact that you're dying." At Kankurou's words, I whipped my head around and looked at him in bewilderment. What the HELL does me mean we were dying?! We were both healthy and alive, thank you very much! He turned his head to look at me, and it hit me.

We were dying on the inside. From the inside out. It felt like there was a safe inside of me, and I had finally figured out the code, and the safe had burst open, releasing what I had been hiding and had forgotten for so long. Though I didn't want to admit it, I did. I did love him. I hated myself for feeling that, and I had tucked the feeling away deep into the corners of my mind, willing to forget about it, which I did at one point.

We were dying from keeping our emotions locked away, yearning for each other, but choosing instead of giving in, we fought. It was pratically the only feeling we could express without having other people stare. It was so much easier to argue than to love. So, we fought and fought. That, in some twisted, insane way, was how I could at least show my feelings. And it felt weird...Unorthodox to admit my fancy to someone.

Another memory had sprung from that safe.

_His hand curled around the back of my neck, as he whispered "So...who's wrong? Your friend...Or you?" as he pulled my head towards his. Our lips connected, and he pressed gently on me. He tasted nothing like I had ever experienced in my life. He tasted...semi-sweet. I let myself stop worrying, and pushed back. He was my sandman. My semi-sweet sandman._

I dropped back to reality and gasped slightly. The chakra strings fell away, as Kankurou retracked the chakra back in his hand. Aya and Kankurou both got up, and calmly, quietly, left the kitchen.

Minutes passed, and neither of us said a word. I felt something behind my eyes, and it grew to a stinging sensation that made the corners of my eyes water and my vision blurred. I got up slowly, turned on my heel and opened the door that lead outside. I didn't remember to close the door behind me, but I was in a daze. I walked over to the swing, sat on it and remained motionless. Finally, I felt the tear drop from my eye and made a plitting sound as it hit my hand. I couldn't believe what I had recalled. I couldn't believe what I had remembered, and unlocked. Why had it been so hard for me to say yes? Yes, I do like him? Yes is only one word! How can it be so stressful, so intimidating and frightening to say, even when you know the person has the same feeling back at you? In the end, you both know, but say nothing. That's how we were dying. Bit by bit, we couldn't take it anymore. And that's when I snapped. I took the oppourtunity to get away from it all by leaving. My only exit from the pain was to disappear for good from that house, and go back to where I really belonged.

But fate liked to play with the minds of the lonely and caused me to run back to the very place I had been dying to leave behind, to forget all that I had left there.

Stupid fate...Let's all blame destiny.

It was only the morning, but I was exhausted. Everything happened while it wasn't even noon.

"You think they're right?" Said a voice behind me, and I jumped in surprise, my hands leaping to the ropes so I wouldn't fall off. But instead of grabbing a robe, I clutched a hand curled around my original target. I looked up, and saw his sky blue eyes look down at me. My heart skipped a beat, and I bit my bottom lip.

"I-I..." I hadn't stuttered my words in a long time, and it slightly surprised me. I closed my mouth, still looking up at him. He blinked down at me, and didn't try to remove my hand from his. Wind blew across the desert, sending sand flying around, twirling my long hair around and spreading out like a fan. His hair rustled but we were as still as statues.

It had been a long long time since we had stayed quiet like this in each other's presence. It had felt like a thousand years.

xxxx

YAY!! so, they didnt end up together, or did they? you cant really tell! hAHAHAH!


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, sry for the long wait, here is the third chapter of A Thousand Years. 

A Thousand Years 3

I looked down finally, and I felt hands on my back, pushing me forward, and I soared high in the air. I looked back in surprise, and Gaara, the same look on his face, so indifferent, was pushing me calmly back and forth. Each time I would swing back to his direction, his hands would push on my back, and I would be sent flying forward gently. My hair flipped in front of me, then behind me just as quickly, and it brushed my face softly. The creaking of the ropes on the branch, the sounds of my hair fluttering gently with each push, the whirl of wind as I rose and fell continuously, unceasingly...

I looked back again, and caught Gaara's ocean blue eyes, but I quickly looked away. I didn't know why I did, but I felt weird for looking at him. It was a strange feeling, but...I couldn't figure how else to describe it. My world was spinning, and I didn't know how to get it under control. Usually, I could easily do that in a snap, mentally arrange anything that had gotten out of place, but this had sent everything tumbling in to the dark corners of my mind. A place I had rarely ventured to, and I was completely unsure on how to fix it all.

The swings stopped, and I looked up again, and saw Gaara looking down at me. My eyes flickered over his dark red hair, so intriguing was its colour, and his eyes that studied me that had studied me everyday. Then my gaze rested on his tattoo, of Ai. Of love. Love...what a weird thing. It does strange things to people who would have usually acted otherwise. Neither of us when we were younger would have even thought of the word. But...I guess you understand more about things when you get older. I certainly did.

I saw him draw closer, and I felt myself being pulled up too by an invisible force. My eyes were slowly closing, and...I pulled away. He stopped, and stared at me. I shook my head silently, as if saying sorry and got up from the swing. I couldn't speak, my voice seemed to not be able to work. Spinning on my heel, I walked inside, not turning around to take a last glance at him, I just pushed open the kitchen door and closed it. Leaning against it, I covered my face with my hands.

Why...Why did I not want to be with him? I wanted to so badly, but I wouldn't allow myself to. I just couldn't. If I did...Who knows what would happen? I was usually a controlled person, who knew what she felt and could organize her thoughts and actions so that they wouldn't make mistakes. But lately...Nothing seemed to be working out the way it should have.

My clothes smelt bad, because of the smoke and smog from the burning house. The image will never leave me. It was literally burned in my eyes. The tumbling of wood, and screams of my family still in there...And Sakura crying. Those were the worst sounds I could ever endure. I had never even said good bye to anyone when I had left... I never even knew how the fire was started. The police officer never told me.

I removed my hands from my face. I had to find out how my brother and mother's house caught fire. But I had came here. Now I would have to wait, but by then, it would be too late...I would never know...Closing my eyes, I tried to remember every excrutiating detail of it. The burning wood and paint, and the flesh...The disgusting smell of burning flesh would be stuck in my nose till I die. I remembered the enflamed grass, a few hunks of clay and a large block of wood that had fallen some few feet away from the house.

Opening my eyes with a start, I replayed the log of wood in my head. It was further from the house. So were a few other pieces of limber. That's not right. If a house catches fire because of perhaps a stove left on or something, then everything would burn from the inside, and the house itself would not be scattered. But it was scattered. Like an explosion...

"An explosion??" I said aloud into the empty kitchen, and frowned deeply. No household explosion would cause that much destruction. It had to be set up. And the only kind of explosion I had ever witnessed was in a book. A manga. The Naruto manga. Replaying again the image of the blocks of wood, I remembered a large chunk of clay. Why the heck would clay be there? But...How was that even possible? A look of horror dawned on my face.

"Hasame-nii-chan?" Said a voice, and I looked up. Aya was looking at me with a worried expression from the kitchen door entrance. "Hasame, you looked scared...What's wrong?" She asked timidly, a tone she hadn't used in a while. She only talked like that when she was worried.

"A-a-aya...M-my house...You know what had happened to my house, right?" I had told her last night at the table with everyone else. She nodded, and advanced to me.

"A-aya..." I stuttered again, and she shook her head, a look of confusion now replacing the worry.

"I know how it had started that fire...I know how...A-and I d-don't believe it..."

"Why? What happened?" She asked, and her tone of concern grew. I started to shake, and I couldn't keep it in.

"It was set up! There was clay there, Aya! CLAY!" I yelled and grabbed her shoulders, my facial expression must have been seriously scaring her just then, as my black hair obscured it almost all from view. "I know who had did it! But now I can't go back in time to make sure! This is an absolute nightmare!" I screeched, and she took my trembling arms, prying my hands off of her.

"H-hasame, r-relax please. Y-you're scaring me." She said and she lead me to a chair and sat me down. Sasuke poked his head in.

"What's going on? There was yelling-"

"Sasuke-kun, come here please." Asked Aya gently, and he walked in and sat down beside her, a look on his face that I couldn't quite read.

"L-listen to me. I know how my house had caught fire. It was an explosion! And you know what I saw next to the house, that I didn't remember until now?" I demanded, my entire body shivering now from the nerves and from horror. Both Aya and Sasuke watched me nervously.

"It was clay. Clay, Aya. That could only mean one thing, and that things name is Akatsuki." I saw Sasuke stiffen at that. "It was the Akatsuki, they came to my house, and I'm sure it was Deidara, and blew up my house with his freaking clay. That son of ah-"

The door leading outside opened, and Gaara walked in.

"You mentioned Deidara." He said sharply, and I nodded.

"He blew up my house. I'm absolutely sure it was him. I saw clay on my lawn, and that's his trademark weapon. WHY THE HELL WOULD HE COME TO MY HOUSE?!" I yelled, and hit my head on the table so hard it cracked slightly. Aya jumped and put a hand on my back. "Hasame!" I stayed with my head to the table, still shaking. I lifted my head slowly, and felt something trickle down between my eyes and run down the side of my nose. "H-hasame, you're bleeding!" Aya said in alarm, and was about to get up to get a band aid, but I felt something cool against my forehead, but it stung horribly. I opened my eyes and came face to face with black-rimmed eyes.

Gaara was pressing an alcohol dipped cotton ball to my wound, dabbing at it gently.

"Don't break the table, please." He said, and I muttered an 'ok'.

"But this is serious! I have to go back! I NEED to! I just need to make sure!" I yelled, waving my arms around in distress, and nearly hitting the table again with my hand.

"I can't believe it...Why would the Akatsuki come to my house?"

"Because they came to the streets of Suna 12 years ago." Said a voice, and Noah and Raven entered the kitchen. I pulled away from Gaara and turned to look at them.

"What do you-"

"Don't you remember? We all had to be taken out to get new clothes 12 years ago, and we had lost you two, and we were at the house. We finally saw you and Gaara come back, and we told you, remember?" Raven said, and I frowned, the dabbing had stopped.

I remembered. I had felt like someone was watching us, in that restuaurant and Gaara had pulled me in between two shops. I remembered it vividly. The prickle on the back of my neck in the streets, and the way Gaara had told me to hurry up. I remembered everything. They were there. Raven had said that there were men with black cloaks with red clouds on them. I couldn't believe it. They had found out that I had gone back to this world, and came and thinking I was inside, annihilated my family and destroyed my house. Then that could mean...

"There's some other way to get back home!" I said aloud, and everyone turned to look at me oddly. "What do you mean?" Asked Noah, and I repeated, "There's gotta be another way back home! If they managed to get to our world and get to my house, they must have some other fashion to get here! Maybe they have their own portal or something!"

"Really!" Sakura ran in and jumped on my lap. I was shocked to find her listening by the door. "Who's the Akatsuki, Auntie Hasame?" I stroked her hair.

"Sakura...I know you don't want to bring this up...But do you remember when our house caught fire yesterday?" I saw her eyes turn glassy, and tears spilled from her eyes. She nodded, rubbing her eyes furiously. I gave her a quick hug, then said, looking into her brilliant green eyes, now sparkling from the tears,

"I know how the fire started. It was by a man who uses clay to explode things. He's an evil man, and tried to kill me. I think. He thought that I was home, and tried to kill me by blowing up the house. But of course, I wasn't home." Sakura looked at me in astonishment, so surprised her tears stopped. I nodded and looked up at everyone.

"We have to find that other way to get back home. We must." I flashed a look at Gaara, and he nodded. Standing up, he threw the bloody cotton ball in the trash.

"Get Temari and Kankurou in here too." He ordered, and Aya quickly called for them, and they appeared immediately.

"We have a new mission. Team Sand and Team 4, this is an S ranked mission that must be completed as soon as possible. It is to find another way to go back to their world and recover anything that might indicate if the Akatsuki was by Hasame's house. Precautions; do not be detected by the civilians, as they do not know we exist. Understood?"

"Hai." Everyone said, and I put Sakura down before getting up. She tugged on my leg, and I glanced down at her.

"Can I come too, auntie Hasame?" She said, and I shook my head, bending down to her level and getting on one knee. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but this is important. We're going to find out if the Akatsuki really did kill our family, I promise. We'll get revenge, alright? This I promise you, Sakura." I gave her a kiss on her forehead before standing up and walking out of the kitchen with everyone else. I passed Sasuke, who gave me a Look. I glared back at him. I knew why he was looking at me like that.

"Don't get revenge, Hasame. It never leads to any go-"

"I know, Uchiha. Don't tell me what to do. I'll do what I please." I snapped, and marched passed him. I could feel his stare on my back, but I ignored it.

Aya came downstairs, and gave me a kunai pouch and shruiken leg pouch. I nodded in thanks.

Now, we had to find our way home.

oOoOo

I stood in the mirror in my room. Aya had given me some of her clothes, and so had Temari, so I had a bunch of different clothing items on, but it looked pretty good. In all, I resembled this: My long black hair pulled back loosely, my bangs framing my face. My black rimmed eyes, so pronounced now, matching my hair perfectly. A black top with short sleeves and was cropped to show my abdomen. I wore a long sleeved fishnet top over my black shirt, reaching to my waistline. My pants, cut at my ankles, had pouches to hold kunais and such. My black ninja shoes had been under the bed, untouched. I looked at myself, nodded and turned to look at Sakura sitting on my bed. She gave me a thumbs up and I grinned. She was too cute. Picking her up, I gave her a quick hug before putting her down and she ran to the door. Throwing it open, I saw Noah, Raven and Aya turn their heads to look in my direction. Walking up to them, I had a feeling of deja vu. It was a feeling, not a sight or memory. I had felt this before. The feeling of companionship. Of friendship. I had missed it oh so much.

Raven was wearing a deep green shirt with no sleeves, but had a short long sleeved black sweater over top, and his headband on his forehead. His pants reached to his shins, revealing bandages wrapped around his legs and reached right into his ninja shoes.  
Noah was wearing a crimson red shirt with a high collar and a square opening, showing his headband around his neck. His brown pants had a bandage around both cuffs and bunched up his pant cuffs.

Aya was wearing a shirt similar to Sakura (Haruno Sakura, that is), but it was blue and zippered off to the side. Her headband was tied around her waist and evened out her hourglass figure. She wore a pale blue skirt with bandages serving as shorts underneath and reached to about her knees.  
I nodded at them, my headband on top of my head, the metal glinting off the lights. I had to give them a tiny smile, just this once.

oOoOo

I stood at the door, and Aya, Raven, Kankurou, Noah, Temari and Gaara were waiting for me outside. I sighed and was about to step over the threshold when something grabbed my hand. I looked down into Sakura's shining emerald eyes, now glinting with tears. I bent down to her level and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I saw Shikamaru, Kimyko, Hinata and Atari standing near the stairs. Hatori, Hasame and Kyou were sitting on the ground next to the adults. They had come to see us off, and wish us luck on our mission.

Sakura's arms tightened, and she whispered in my ear, "Promise you'll come back, ok Auntie Hasame?" I blinked in confusion. I pulled away and looked at her in slight concern. "Of course I'll come back. It will be a safe mission, don't you worry, alright?" I said, but she shook her head.  
"Promise you won't leave me here and go back home." I didn't say anything for a second, but sighed and nodded. "I would never leave you, Sakura. You're my only family left." She nodded and smiled softly before hugging me once more.

I stood up and turned my back to everyone, then reluctantly rose a hand to wave. The door snapped shut. I walked up to the group and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Aya looked at me in a strange way that made me frown at her. "Something wrong?" I whispered to her, and she tilted her head to the side in thought. "It's just...You haven't really been training at all for the past six years...Do you still rememb-"

I snapped my arm up to block sand that had attacked me, and spun around into a back kick, and the sand grabbed my foot. Planting my hand on the ground, I spun around like a top, then with both legs I pushed off the hard sand and flipped back into a fighting stance. Sand flew at me, and I blocked the attacks with my forearms, and flipped my hands into three hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" I cried, and four perfect copies of myself sprung around me. Sand immediately shaped to form a whip, and wrapped around my ankles. But, my clone easily kicked it off. I jumped on one copy's shoulders, while grabbing the shirt collar of another clone and flung it at Gaara. While the clone was flying towards my attacker, I slid out from under the sand, disappeared then reappeared behind Aya, a kunai held out. I rose an eyebrow at Gaara as my clones poofed in a cloud of smoke.

"You think the whip was a little unnecessary?" I asked, and he only shrugged his shoulders. Aya's eyes were as wide as saucers. I chuckled and removed the kunai, sliding it into my pouch. "I think I'll be okay, Aya. No need to worry about me." I said, raising a hand to silence any words she might say. It looked like she couldn't say anything anyway. She stared at me, and began laughing.

"You..." She sighed, and put a hand to her head, "You are unbelievable, Hasame. Keep on surprising me like that and I might have a heart attack." She joked and I snorted in response.

Gaara cleared his throat, and got everyones attention. "To be able to comb the village more quickly, we'll split up into two man cells, and go separate ways. Aya, you're with Sasuke, Temari and Kankurou together, Noah and Raven you two together. Hasame will be with me. Aya, Sasuke, head North. Temari and Kankurou, you go down South. Noah and Raven, you'll be going West, and Hasame and I will be heading East. Meet back by tonight. Understood?" Everyone nodded, and prepared to go off.

Hasame walked near Gaara and muttered to him, not looking at the Kazekage, "Why am I with you?" He turned to look at her blankly. "Would you rather be with Sasuke?" Hasame scowled, and shook her head. "Fine, you get your way." I growled and we all set off.

Running behind Gaara for some part, I felt rather angry again. It seemed like he always got to decide everything for me, as if I couldn't make decisions on my own. Then, he lept to the roof top, and I pushed off the ground to leap in the air, and landed on the sandy rooftop. I had no idea how we we're going to find any portals in Suna, you think that they'd find another one by now, right? But, I suppose the process of elimination worked well too. Even if it was slow.

It had been nearly an hour we had been searching, and it was basically futile in my opinion.

"This isn't working Gaara. We should search somewhere else." I grumbled, as we walked around the East end of the village. Gaara scowled at me over his shoulder. "Don't tell me what we should do."

"Oh, and I'm just supposed to follow your every command?" I demanded sarcastically, finally stopping and planting my hands on my hips. The look he gave me said 'yes'. I snorted.

"Listen here, I am not going to be dragged down by you!" I said, scowling deeply at Gaara's back. Abruptly, he turned around, a dangerous look on his face.

"'Dragged down'? Am I holding you back?" He said quietly, but it alone was dripping with anger. I made a noise in my throat.

"Yeah! Right now, we would have found it by now! Or maybe, it's in Konoha! Or even at their hide out! But NO! We had to look in Suna first!" Gaara looked about ready to attack me, but didn't.

"We are looking in Suna because it is the closest, and THEN we will look else where. If you think you can do better, why don't you show me? You haven't shown much promise anyway..." Turning his back to me, anger flared up in me again, and so did my competitive side.

"FINE! I will look for it myself! You're such an ass hole, you know that?!" I spat, and his muscles tensed. I didn't care, but sped off in the opposite direction, kicking up dust behind me. Bounding from roof tops to roof tops, I found myself at the training ground. It was empty. I was fuming, and tried my best to contain the part of me that just wanted to destroy this area to bits. But people would be wanting to use this to train. Finally sitting up top of the wooden post, I rested my face in my hands, trying to calm down. I wouldn't be able to search properly if I was mad.

I felt a chakra spike behind me. 'I bet it's Gaara.' I thought angrily, and into my hands, I said loudly,

"Piss off Gaara!" And ignored whoever was behind me. "I'm busy!"

Something grabbed my arm, and I looked up, startled. It wasn't Gaara. It was someone I recognized from the manga. I noticed the black cloak and red clouds. A cyan eye studied me.

"Hey, I thought we killed this girl, yeah." He said, and a person with black hair and an orange mask on stepped closer. "Obviously not." He said, and seemed to crane his head to look at me clearer. "Unless she miraculously risen from the dead to get revenge on you." He joked, and Deidara shot him a look. "Shut up Tobi"  
"Well, since we missed her earlier...Let's take her." Tobi. Then this must be...I snapped my eyes to the blonde in front of me.

Deidara shrugged his shoulders, and the next second, hands were at my waist, and I was flipped over his shoulder.

"HOLD ON A FREAKING SECOND!" I sceeched, and got a kunai from my pouch. "YOU ARE SO DEAD! YOU KNOW THAT!?" I raised the kunai, about to stab it into his back, when Tobi quickly slipped it out of my hands in a split second. I ended up punching Deidara in the back with my clenched fist.

"Hey! No punching, yeah!" He exclaimed, and Tobi raised the round end of the kunai, bringing it down on the base of my skull. A sharp pain shot through my cerebrum, and I felt tingly all over. Instantly, I fell limb, and my vision went black. Before blacking out, I heard an exploding noise but was out.

(3rd person view time)

Deidara had made a clay figure explode, just in time to make the attacking sand retreat. Gaara stared hard at the two Akatsuki, glowering and sand stirred restlessly at his feet.

"Hey! He's back!" Cried out Tobi, which recieved a glare from Deidara. The blonde shifted the unconsious Hasame over his shoulder. "Hm...What should we do about him? Yeah?" Deidara said, tapping his chin with a slender finger. "It's not like we can kill him again..."Pointed out Tobi, but Deidara shot looked at him incredulously. "Really think about that, yeah. Seriously." He drawled the last word for emphazise, but Tobi ignored him.

"Let's just be on our way." He said in the end, but not before sand shot out and wrapped around Tobi, who then changed into a poof of smoke. Gaara glared at Deidara and Tobi who appeared beside him. Deidara grinned, then waggling his fingers, said in an annoying falsetto voice,

"Bye bye! Hope to see you soon!" And both left in a split second. For once, Gaara was stunned. It took him a few seconds to realize that she was gone. He didn't even know where, which made it all worse.

Anger boiled up inside. No. Anger wasn't the word. It barely covered it. Anger, to a completely different level, confusion, disbelieving and finally horror. It flamed to a point beyond recognition, and finally made him snap. It had been a long time since he had finally lost it.

"UUUWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He roared, and an enormous quantity of sand exploded, causing half the village to have a minor tremor.

A small sand storm rippled through the village, and people fell off their feet. Including the others in search for the portal. The sand consumed him, and he was gone in a second.

A thousand brids will sing before a death occurs in the desert. And not everyone will grieve.


	4. Chapter 4

A Thousand Years 4

My wrists hurt like hell...My head was throbbing...And it felt like my arms were being pulled slowly out of their sockets...

I groaned, and finally opened my eyes, which didn't help much, seeing as it was rather dark. I couldn't feel the floor beneath me, which for a second scared the living hell out of me, but I figured out why my arms felt like they did. Tilting my head back, I saw shackled chained my wrists to the stone wall, leaving me hanging about three feet off the ground. Obviously, these chains were meant for someone with much longer legs than I.

There was a turning of a knob, and light streamed in when the door opened ahead of me. I made a noise in my throat as the light blinded me temporarily, but I blinked, getting used to it. Squinting at whoever had entered wherever I was, I recognized them all immediately.

Deidara leaned forward, grinning at me in a taunting way. I snarled at him, bareing my teeth.

"Fiesty. I like her, yeah." He said, and patted my head. With my hands above my head, I flipped him off, but wasn't sure if he could see it. A kunai suddenly whistled past us both, and I heard it connect with the wall right above my head. Deidara turned and frowned at the kunai-launcher.

"Jeez, could you have gave me a warning? Yeah..." He muttered, and I saw red eyes glinting above the black cloak's high collar. Itachi if I remembered correctly. Who could forget that weasel?

"Stop fooling around and get to it already." He ordered, and stepped toward me. There was a light above, that flickered on. I peered over Itachi's shoulder to see a blue skinned man, with darker blue hair.

"Kisame, if you'd like to join in the fun, yeah!" Joked Deidara, earning a glare from Itachi. "Alright, alright, I'm getting on it." Muttered the blonde, and turned to me. I glared at him, and hissed,

"Bite me, you mother fucker." Deidara laughed, and patted my head again.

"Man! She's fiery! This is gonna be one hell of a night for her. Yeah." I didn't understand what he meant, but didn't let the confusion show on my face. He put a hand to my upper arm, and I stared at him oddly. Suddenly, I felt teeth piercing my skin. Yelping in surprise, I kicked my legs out, and hit Deidara in the ribs, but only managed to push him away.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?!" I shrieked. But I remembered, he had two mouths on the palms of his hands. 'God, I can't believe I forgot that.'

Metal points abruptly buried themselves deep into my thighs, and I screamed in pain. I felt blood traveling down my legs, and I wanted to kick my legs out, but I couldn't move them. Gasping, I stared at Itachi, who only gave me a look of indifference, before backing away, inviting Deidara back.

"You're gonna pay for that, bitch." He hissed, grinning at me. I then realized what they were going to do with me. They were going to torture me. For the reason beyond me, but they were going to torture me all night, according to Deidara. A hand caressed my face, and I saw Deidara peering at me with a cyan eye.

"You have such a pretty face. It's a real work of art, yeah." He said nodding. The tongue from his palm licked my cheek, and I recoiled in disgust, snapping out to bite his finger, but he pulled his hand back in time. "You know what I think of art. It's beauty remains for a short period of time, then departs quickly." I remembered this, and fear ran through my bones.

His hand roughly grabbed my chin, and pulled it towards the left.

"You wanna have the first go, yeah?" I heard Deidara say, but there was no answer. Looking ahead, I saw bloodred eyes, swirling, then halting to a three pointed star shape. The Mangekyo Sharigan.

_**Everything seemed to spin, and when I looked up, I saw the moon was crimson red, and I was chained up like a ball, the handcuffs tight on my wrists and ankles. Suddenly, spikes protruded from them and pierced my flesh and into my bone. I screamed in pain, and writhed on the ground, wishing anything to get rid of the handcuffs. Itachi stood over me, silent as usual, and a katana in his hand. I stared at it, despite the pain in my ankles and wrists, realizing what he was going to do. He was going to do the same torture as he did to Kakashi.**_

**_I felt the cool steel slide right through my abdomen, and burst out the otherside of my back, right through all my organs. I gurgled, and vomited blood, splattering on the irredescent ground. If he hadn't had removed it, it wouldn't have been so bad. But, I heard it make a _shluck _sound, and I yelled in agony, blood gushing from my stomach wound. He raised the katana again, and this time, putting it through my heart. My breath stopped, and I could feel my heart beat against the metal of the sword, getting faster and faster, blood oozing from the flesh and blade. He dragged it upwards, and I felt my heart tug. I shrieked, and the sound was so eerie to my ears, and when he finally pulled the blade out, I coughed up more blood, only to see my still beating heart on the end of his sword, blood splurting from the veins still attached to it. I felt violently ill, but I was amazed I was still alive. It felt completely horrifying to have an empty place in my chest where an organ should be. Everything inside seem to slowly sink lower, now no longer full to it's complete compacity. Blood was just pouring out of the two large wounds, blood dripping from my punctures in my wrists and ankles, and it dribbled down my chin._**

_**I never knew the human body held so much blood.**_

I gasped, and snapped my eyes open, gagging and moaning, my head suddenly felt very heavy, and it lolled on my shoulders. My vision was blurry, but I could make out the three Akatsuki members before me. I looked down, and saw no blood staining my clothes. I was soaked with sweat, and I felt like I had run a marathon, my heart racing at an incredible pace, my breathing ragged. Panting, I painfully looked up at Itachi, who had turned away.

"I'm surprised she's still concious." He said in a slightly bored voice, and I sneered.

"Y-you...S-son of a-" My sentence was cut off, as something had dug deep into my neck. It felt like teeth, many small teeth, and I felt a tongue licking the puncture holes. I screamed in horror, and swung my head around to bite Deidara's arm, but his hand then tightened on my throat, cutting off my air. I squeaked, and writhed, trying to release the pressure on my throat. Air was all I could think of now. I needed it desperately, and my vision was going black. No, I couldn't die here. Not infront of these bastards. His knuckle cracked as the fingers tightened again, and I arched my back, only high pitched noises emanating from my mouth.

"Don't kill her, we still need her." Warned Itachi sharply, and Deidara sighed, releasing me. I coughed violently, swearing profusely between hacks.

"You might want to watch your tongue, young lady..." Hissed Deidara deeply, grinning at me like a Cheshire cat. I didn't like the look on his face. "I might just cut it out." With that statement, he flicked out a kunai and held it against my mouth hard, pressing the cool steel against my pursed lips.

"What else can we do to her? I don't mind ripping off each of her dainty little fingers here." Kisame suggested, and I felt a shiver run down my spine from his threat.

"You fucking do, and I will castrate you, you shark-whore!" I shouted and launched a spit ball at him. It landed a few feet away from his sandals. A kunai whistled towards me, and it just barely missed me, slicing a deep cut on my right cheek.

"Do that again, bitch, and it won't be my kunai I'll throw at you." Said Kisame calmly, wrapping his fingers around the huge sword strapped to his back. I eyed it uneasily. I recognized that sword. The one that shreds, and not slices. Made out of shark teeth. "You are in no position to talk back."

He was right. I was utterly defensless, hanging by shakles, no weapons and my legs unoperative. How I was going to survive this was beyond me. But...They were only going to torture me for as long as I was concious...If I suddenly lost conciousness...

I swung my head forward and nearly decking Deidara in the face, I cracked my head on the stone wall behind me. I felt my skull rattle painfully, and blood trickled down the back of my neck. I hissed in pain. Damn. I was still awake.

"Well, that was smart, yeah. Cracking your damn head on the wall..." Snorted Deidara, and leaned on the wall I was chained to, scratching under his jaw as if what was going on was something he did everyday. I didn't doubt that it was possibly true. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers.

"Hey, I've got a question for Miss Feisty here, yeah." He said, and turned his head to face me. I only looked at him, and growled.

"The hell I'll ever answer you." I muttered, and he put his hand lazily on my side."FUCKIN' DON'T TOUC-" Teeth bit into my skin and I yelped, squirming to get out of reach of the devilish mouths on the palms of his hands.

"Now will you answer?" He said after I stopped thrashing about. I only shook my head. Rolling his eyes, I saw his hand advance towards me again.

"HANDS OFF BUSTER!!" I screamed, and spat in his face. He only stared at me, now loathing in his eyes. Wiping the spit off his face slowly, his movements slow and percise, I glared at him.

"I'll make you answer anyway, yeah." He grumbled. I blew air through my teeth dangerously, but he ignored it. "If I were to...Say...Bring you're daught-"

"NOT MY DAUGHTER! GOD! WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT?! WE LOOK NOTHING ALIKE!" I shouted incredulously, rolling my eyes. Deidara blinked at me.

"Ok. If I were to bring your...what is she?"

"Niece."

"Right. Niece. If I were to bring your niece here, would you answer, yeah?"

"Like hell I would. You don't even know where she-"

There was a sniffling, and Tobi was dragging a small girl by her enclosed fist, her long blonde hair shimmering in the dull light, her huge green eyes sparkling with tears. She spotted me, and I just stared at her in surprise. How the hell did they know where she was? And what about everyone back home? Did they hurt them too?

"If you fucking lay one finger on her..." I growled at Tobi, who then tugged Sakura further, and she stumbled to the stone floor, seeming to have grazed her knee. She was trying so hard to hold back her tears, but was failing miserably.

"Sakura-chan, it's okay, come here sweetie..." I spoke softly to her, and she looked up, crawled over to me and grabbed my foot.

"A-auntie Hasame? What's going on...I'm scared...I'm really scared." She sobbed, burying her face in my leg. I winced, but couldn't hold her.

I glowered up at the four akatsuki.

"You bastards. If you hurt anyone else in that house, I will tear out your insides. I very much well would. With pleasure." I threateneed, and Sakura looked up at me in surprise.

"And what if we did?" Deidara's hand shot out, and grabbed Sakura's long hair, dragging her back, away from me. She cried out in pain, putting her small hands on her head to stop the pull of her hair.

"LET GO OF HER!" I screeched, and threashed on the wall, the chain from the handcuffs cutting my wrists and causing sores. Almost doing a chin up, I attempted feebly to bite the chains, only cutting my lip.

"My my, this is fun. Yeah." Muttered Deidara, looking at the sniffling girl at his feet. He yanked at her hair again, making her cry out in pain.

"STOP! DAMNIT WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR MIND?!" I shouted, making my wrists bleed even more.

"Answer my question, and MAYBE I'll let her go." Ordered the blonde artist, and I only had to look at Sakura's face to know what I had to do.

"Fine. Only one question though." I compromised.

"What say, would your reaction be to know who is was that blew up your house?" He asked, and I felt my heart stop.

"It was you, I knew it already." I muttered, spitting blood from my torn lip. He smirked.

"Do you know why though?" I blinked. I thought I already knew the answer.

"To kill me?" Deidara shook his head.

"To kill your family."

Sakura stopped crying, and looked at Deidara holding her captive, giving me the most horrible look ever. He was smiling, and that sparked anger up in me again.

"What?! WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" instead of crying, like I wish I could, I only yelled, making a huge scene and squirming in my handcuffs.

"Why? We wanted you here. Yeah."

"BASTARD! WHY DON'T YOU JUST BURN IN H-...What?! Why would you want me here?"

"Well, I figured it would be pretty simple..Considering the circumstances..." Tobi interupted, and stepped up beside me. I glared down at him.

"Move it, midget." I snarled. He turned his masked face to Deidara.

"Did she just call me a midget?" Deidara promptly nodded. He turned to me again, and there was a short silence. I felt a fist collide with my cheek, and almost broke my jaw bone. Sakura screamed and made a movement to reach for me, but was pulled back by Deidara.

"HASAME-CHAN!" She cried, and returned to sobbing at his feet. Cracking my neck, I turned to face him. This was going too far.

"Why did you want me here?" I reopeated my question. Tobi turned to look at the three other Akatsuki.

"Should we tell her?" He asked. Deidara threw a lump of clay at his head agitatedly.

"Of course, you idiot! It's not like she can do anything, yeah!" Retorted the man angrily. "I'm going to blow you apart the next chance I get."

"GOD DAMNIT SHUT UP AND TELL ME!" I barked, and if I could see Tobi's face, he probably would have rolled his eyes.

"Course, its to get the Kazekage here."

"What good am I then?" For once, everyone in the room looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid. "What?" Deidara tossed another lump of clay at me, hitting me directly in the face. "HEY! THAT HURT!" I shouted, feeling my nose starting to bleed. God, if I didn't die from their torture, I would die from loss of blood. "Didn't you already remove the Shukaku from him?"

"Yeah...But we want to kill him." Stated Tobi, and I shook my head slowly.

"What good is that?"

"He was going to...Oooh ho ho...You don't know yet?" Chuckled Deidara at me, and I turned my head to look at him. "What don't I know?" I asked slowly, peering at him in suspicion. He chuckled some more, as if he had a dirty little secret that he was keeping from me. "What? What was he going to do?" I repeated, now a sense of urgency rising up in me.

"ke heh heh...He was actually going to join the Akatsuki, but our real purpose is to kill him. He's a threat, with or without the Shukaku."

I felt my whole body freeze with disbelieving. My mind was blank, my heart felt like it skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry, ignoring the fact that blood was still in there.

I couldn't move, I couldn't even breathe properly, and I felt all the fight was blown out like a candle. Sakura was staying still too, and Deidara released her hair, before nudging her with his foot towards me, and she crawled over to me, tugging at my foot.

"Auntie Hasame?...Auntie?" She said quietly, pulling at my pant leg. I didn't move, I just couldn't. Why was he going to betray us like that? I didn't think that was even possible.

Someone reached up above me, and a key turned, the chains unclasped, and I fell to the ground with a thud, my wrists bloody from the metal.

"Just leave her here. She's in a stupor." Said Itachi, and they all filed out, and the last was Deidara, who smirked and shut the door behind him, the only light above us was flickering dangerously, threatening to burn out.

Sakura crawled beside me, and took my hand.

"Auntie Hasame? I'm scared..." She muttered, and put my arm over her shoulder, curling up close to me. I didn't even notice it. I felt like a doll, all the life gone out of me. Why would he go to the Akatsuki? He always was going on about how important the village was, and it sometimes ticked me off. Before I left, he said that he'd rather protect the village than to socialize with the likes of me. Back then, I despised him with every fiber of my being. Now though...It hurt to hear those words again.

oOoOo

The door opened, the light temporarily blinding me. Deidara had entered, and Sakura opened her eyes sleepily, she had been sleeping, and saw him. She started whining, and buried her head under my arm, a natural instinct for children wanting to be protected. I blinked a few times, and raised a hand to my brow. He advanced towards us with slow cautioned steps, as if not wanting anyone beyond this room to notify that he was here. He put down a platter of food, which look rather well put together.

"Listen you. Eat this, and don't be all weak and shit, yeah. Understand this, I've taken a liking to you, which isn't exactly allowed, but who the hell cares?"

He hissed at me in a almost urgent manner, but raised his shoulders to his ears in a shrug, palms up. I stared at him, then at his upturned hands wearily. Noticing my gaze, he quickly put his hands back down.

"Anyway, usually, we don't give prisionners food, but we need to keep you alive until he gets here."

"I doubt he'll come." I muttered, and he raised an eyebrow at me. It was the first words I had spoke for nearly four hours since the torturing. My wounds were slowly forming scabs, the dried blood congealed on my clothing and hair.

"And why do you say that? Yeah." I heard him ask, and I turned my eyes to him.

"He doesn't give a rat's ass about me."

"So he won't mind if I take ya?"

This caught my attention, and I whipped my head to face him directly into his grinning face. Frowning, I gave him a questionable look. Again, he lazily shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Oh nothing. Just eat that. I'll be back later." With that said, he stood up abruptly, and walked briskly to the door, and I saw him open it, look around, then quickly slipped out into the hall. I just sat there blinking, and rested my hand on Sakura's blonde head. She looked up at me after some time.

"What was that man talking about, Auntie Hasame?" She inquired, but I only shook my head, and pointed to the food.

"Its nothing to worry about, but eat that. You need your strength." I said in a hoarse whisper, and she looked at me incredulously.

"B-but, what about you?" I smiled cheerlessly down at her.

"I don't need anything. You are still growing, and need food. Now eat that meal that...that man has prepared for you." I refrained from swearing even more, even though I knew she had heard me cursing to Deidara. Sakura stared at me for another few seconds, before turning to the food, picking up the chopsticks and begun to eat. I watched her consume the food, remembering the time when I had taught her how to use the foreign utensiles. My brother was always jealous of me because I could use them properly, and without dropping my food constantly, while he could never master them.

Soon though, Sakura finished the meal, and placed the chopsticks on the ground beside the box. Turning on her rear, she turned to face me.

"Hasame-chan...Why are we here?" I let silence linger for a while before answering bluntly,

"I don't know. All I know is that...No...I don't know anything." Sakura's bottom lip stuck out, and she crawled to me, curling up in my lap.

"You know everything, Hasame-chan. You always help me with stuff, and you always make everything better. You know everything."

Those words struck me sharply, and I shook my head slowly. Soon, I was shaking my head vigorously, tears coming to my eyes. I took hold of Sakura and pulled her close.

"No Sakura! I don't know anything! I don't know what's going on, why were here, and why we even came back to this stupid world!!" I yelled, burying my face into her blonde hair. "I don't know, Sakura, I just-"

The door banged open, and I jumped, Sakura giving a slight yelp in surprise. Deidara ran in, and grabbed my wrist.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOI-" The next thing I knew, I was flipped over his shoulder again, and I could see Sakura left toppling to the floor.

"He's here." I heard him say. Indeed, there were yells outside, and the noises of battle echoing around the hideout. Sakura cried, and reached up to me, but Deidara had already begun to run out of the room.

"SAKURA! WHAT ABOUT HER?!"

"She'll be fine, jesus. We need you outside, yeah." He growled, and as he ran down the hall, I could hear the crashes and banging of fighting all around the hideout. He was here. He really was. Something fluttered in my stomach, and worked its way up to my chest. Despite the fact that I was still held hostage, I couldn't help but feel a warmth in my chest.

"You're gonna get it, you're gonna get it..." I sung devilishly into his ear, but something slapped my ass, and I yelped. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Just making sure you'd SHUT UP!" Deidara yelled, and finally threw me into what seemed like the kitchen. He grabbed a rope that was in a cupboard somewhere, and held me against the wall, wrapping the rope up feverishly around my waist, my wrists and my ankles. He snorted, as if saying 'That'll do', and put me on his shoulder again.

"What's with you and putting me over your shoulder? Do you like having my ASS near your face?" I waited for him to answer. There was none. "I take that back. Don't answer."

He kicked the door open with his foot, and nearly plowed over Tobi.

"Where is he?"

"South exit."

"Excellent...hmpf." He sneered, and I could see Tobi following closely behind. There was another bang, and sun light, radiant, bright sunlight nearly blinded me. I'm getting blinded too much. I was then thrown on my butt to the ground, and a foot was placed on my back, pushing me forward. I was forced to the ground, my nose almost touching the grass.

"HEY! THIS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?!" Called Deidara, and I pushed back on the foot, but he shoved harder, and I grunted, feeling the stretching pain in my lower back. I wasn't exactly meant to bend this way. I tried to ease the pain but bending my knees, but it just made it worse.

"Cut it out already!" I ordered, but recieved another slow, agonizing press, and I hissed through my clenched teeth. The crashing and hissing of something stopped, and I could hear Deidara chuckle softly.

"Give her back now, filth." I heard a male say, and my heart lept.

"Gaara! You di- ARGH!" Deidara put almost all his weight onto his foot, and my forehead hit the ground, I could feel my lower back being torn slowly, same with the muscles under my thighs.

There was an explosion above me, and Deidara laughed again.

"Honestly, if you want her back...Die, for me, yeah?" He grabbed the back of my shirt, and yanked me to my feet. It felt better to have the strain released, but having been curled up like that, then straightened out almost immediately was painfull, per say. I gritted my teeth, but through the wincing, I could see Gaara floating a few feet above, using his sand like a platform, his sand hovering around him like snakes. I could hear the sand shifting, making a hissing noise as it moved impatiently. Deidara bent down and placed his mouth near my ear, breathing down my neck.

"Your turn, princess." He muttered, and pushed me forward. I didn't know if he was mocking me of some sort, but having my feet tied together, I only fell flat on my face. Not only could I not get up, but I felt my waist being tugged at. I flipped on my back, and realised the rope was almost like a leash, connecting to the rope around my waist. Deidara smirked, and yanked back at the 'leash'. I tumbled back again, and rolled to his feet, muttering curses and other nasty words. He WAS mocking me! He was just playing around, like I was some toy.

I heard Gaara snarl, but he didn't attack. It took me a second to wonder why. I was wrong about the rope. He had replaced the rope when running through the halls of the hideout with clay, woven slyly into the twists of the rope. He would blow up the rope, connected to me, and detonate myself.

He couldn;t attack for fear of me getting hurt in the process. Everything seemed to just stop moving and remained silent, waiting for the two men to face off. I looked around discreetly, and found an opening for my _own_ attack. Leaning forward, I then abruptly slammed my head back, connecting with...Well, let's just say that it hurt hell of alot more than getting punched in the stomach. Deidara made a grunting sound, and keeled backwards, his legs curled up to his chest, swearing profusely. He had let go of the rope, and I figured that Gaara had seen this, as sand shot out and grabbed me, returning just as fast back to its manipulator. I was put down gently beside Gaara, who did not even look at me, eyes focused solely on his enemy. Deidara regained composure, but no longer smirking with over-confidence. He was now growling, and glaring daggers at me.

"Come on! Rip him to pieces! Tear him to little bits and throw them at the damn house!" I shouted, and jumped up and down with passion, but lost my balance, and fell to the sandy floor. I was not helped up.

Deidara then put his hands together to form the hand seal of the Tiger. I realised what he was going to do.

"Gaara!! Get these off me now! GET THEM OFF!" I shouted, my voiced filled with urgency. But just as Gaara reached down to tear off the ropes laced with clay, there was a sizzling, and the areas in which I was tied up with began to burn. It exploded and I just about nearly passed out from the pain.

"ARRGH!" I screamed, and I heard Gaara hiss in pain too. He must have burnt his hands or something. It felt as if I had lost half my lower body. I was hanging off the edge of the sand platform, and could feel myself slipping. Panting, I felt the pain overwhelming me, and saw the ground rushing towards me, before closing my eyes, hoping that if I did that, the pain would then just go away.

Thousands of needles prick the skin, but once one has experienced the pain of the loss of a percious one, then they no longer feel the pain.

xxxx

ok bad bad, i know. but i wrote this late again, and my little brother is snoring beside me, making me lose my concentration. I think i might just strangle him...


	5. Chapter 5

I wrote this almost immediately after I typed the 4th chappie, but didnt update because i wanted ppl to review. 'Course, reviewing just isnt COOL enough anymore! So no one reviews! They all think its overrated. well, i think UPDATING IS OVER RATED! HA! WADDYA SAY ABOUT THAT EH?! Now, review. Or ill sic my raccoon on y'all.

A Thousand Years 5

"Hasame? Hasame! Wake up! Goddamnit woman, open your eyes!!" Someone slapped my cheek, and I groaned, but opened my eyes slowly. There was a searing pain in my wrists and ankles, and my middle felt wet, a white hot pain shot up through my body and went straight for my head. I moaned in pain, and put a hand shakily to my head. I looked at my hand, and realised that it was bleeding severely, same with my other wrist. I blinked groggily, and looked past my hand, focusing on Gaara's darkened face.

"Gaara?...Hold on...Sakura's still inside!" I said, and went to sit up, but the pain around my middle was too much, and I was forced to lay down. Peering over my chest to see what exactly was wrong with my waist, Gaara put a hand on my forehead, forcefully pushing my head back to the ground.

"You shouldn't exactly look at that right now." he said in a dead pane tone, and I could instantly tell it wasn't good.

"Why not?" "It doesn't matter, we need to get you to a medic. Sakura is asleep here." He interupted, urgency in his tone, and I looked to the side to see the little girl curled up beside me, her face shining with tears. My face softened.

"She was crying?" Gaara nodded, but turned his back to me. Wind suddenly rushed over us, and I could see it ruffle his hair, making his black coat flutter behind him. Sakura's long blonde hair twirled around in the constant gust of wind, making it dance in the air.

"Where are we? What happened to Deidara?"

"Got away. We're heading to Konoha. Their hospital has better trained medics than ours." He explained curtly, eyes still focused ahead of him. I watched him for a minute, then raised a hand, no matter how painful it was to move my wrists, and put it on his back. I could feel his muscles tense, but he still wouldn't look at me.

"You came for us..." I said, now watching him intently. No response whatsoever. "Thank you..."

"Don't talk. You don't even realise how close you are to death right now, so just shut up." He snapped, and I retracked my hand, looking at him in surprise. Indeed I did feel slightly woozy and dizzy, and I didn't feel I had alot of energy. And alot of pain. But that didn't mean I was near death...right?

"What-"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, and finally whipped around to look at me, the look on his face was different from what I was used to looking at. It looked furious, but also laced with concern and almost worry.

"Right now, you just almost lost half your body, and you've already lost a considerable amount of blood from your wrists and your stomach. You should be dead right now. It's amazing you're still alive, but don't even TRY to push your luck!" He continued to shout, and I could only stare at him, feeling a sort of fear. He tightened his lips, before snapping his head forward, focusing on his destination ahead. I waited, then raised my head to look at my middle. I felt all the blood, or what was left, drain from my face. Blood was literally oozing from the wound all the way around my waist, and the skin around the edges was charred black from the explosion. I wanted to inspect it more, but I felt sick just looking at it, so I laid my head back down. No wonder I felt rather damp there. Blood had soaked my clothes, which was now mere shreds hanging off my shoulders. I thought I could see something fleshy between the burnt folds of skin, but I just thought it was my imagination. if I knew I had just seen my own insides, while I was still awake, I would have probably then and there thrown them up, so to speak.

I just watched the skin above, the clouds moving slowly, even though we were moving at an incredible speed. He was right to order me to not move, as I felt worse now that I had seen the damage. Maybe if I was unaware of what state I was in, I could have most likely injured myself even more.

Trees begun to pass over head, and I was amazed at how quickly we got there. Figuring I didn't even know how far away the Akatsuki hideout was from Konoha.

I felt exhausted again, and felt like just closing my eyes to go to sleep.

"Gaara, I'm just gonna rest a whi-"

"Don't go to sleep." He said sharply, and I looked at him oddly.

"Why not? I'm really ti-"

"Just don't, okay?" Snapped Gaara again, and looked over his shouler again at me. I couldn't read on his face what he was thinking. But I could have sworn it looked like he was begging me not to. Shaking the thought off, I protested again.

"Listen, going to sleep won't kill me, al-"

"Yes it will! You go to sleep...I'm...I don't think you'll wake up again. You won't." I heard him say, and keeping my spotlight gaze on him, I thought over what he said. He wasn't going to say 'I don't think you'll wake up again'. He was going to say something else, but held back. Now curiosity took hold of me. So, I decided to play a game with myself, so I couldn't drift off.

'I'm going to say that you won't wake up again...No no, that's not it. Why would he say that?' I thought, and continued to guess. I was silent for so long that a few times I saw Gaara shooting glancing over his shoulder, making sure I was still awake.

'I'm...going to guess that you won't wake up again...NO! That's not it either! Let's see...If someone else were to say something like that but with "i'm" in it..what would they say?' I wondered, and sighed deeply, but regretted it. Pain coursed from my abdomen and targeted my brain. I hissed and tried to not breathe deeply.

'I'm thinking...I'm worried...no...I'm...I'm...' Suddenly, the idea arose to me. I looked around at him, staring incredulously at him.

"You're afraid...aren't you?" I said quietly, and I saw the back of his neck stiffen.

"No talking." He ordered again, but I knew it already. He was scared...Why would he be scared?...God, I was so tired. I only wished to just close my eyes, and at least sleep for at least a few minutes. But if I did...

There were shouts from below, and I distinctly heard someone say 'It's the Kazekage!' and in response, 'Why's he here? He's in an awful hurry...' I snorted, and Gaara looked over his shoulder at me.

"Don't got to sleep." He repeated. I only nodded sleepily, and fought the will to close my eyes. It got harder each time I blinked. What if I didn't blink? Keeping my eyes open, the wind rushing by dried the liquid in my eyes, and I had to blink again. The wind then seemed to whirl around less, and I felt the sensation of drifting down to the ground. Gaara stood up and lept off the sand platform.

"Hasame, stay there. Don't close your eyes!" The Kazekage ordered again, before bursting through the double doors of the Konoha Hospital. I could hear the low rumble of a crowd gathering, and Sakura beside me was waking up. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked around.

"Hasame-chan? Wh-what's goin- AH!" She looked at me, and her eyes traveled to my middle. I could see tears spring to her eyes, but my hand shot out to cradle her cheek.

"Don't cry, Sakura-chan. Please don't. But I need you to do me a favor." I said quietly, and she nodded. "I need you to keep me awake. Can you do that? I want to sleep, but I shouldn't." Sakura looked confused, but nodded in reponse.

"Hey...Isn't that the girl that came here a few years ago?" Said a male, and a woman replied, "Yeah...it is...what was her name...Didn't he say her name?"

"Hasame?!" Naruto's wide blue eyes peered above me. I focused my blurry vision, and smiled weakly.

"Heya Naruto..." "Oh my god, what happened?" Sakura's head appeared beside him, looking equally as surprised and worried. I saw Sakura, the child, goggle at Sakura, the young woman, in wonder.

"Hn..Just..Deidara...nothing really im-"

Suddenly, two or three medics clad in their usually off white suits appeared around me. I saw one of them cringe at the sight of my wounds, but they unraveled a stretcher they had and laid it beside me, still on the sand platform that was in place. As gently as they could, they lifted me onto the stretcher, but no matter how careful they were, I felt a white hot pain tingle though my body, and I yelped in pain.

"Careful, will you?" I heard Gaara growl at them, but backed a few steps away as they lifted the stretcher up. All the movement was making me groggy and tired.

"So...Can I go to sleep now?" I asked him, but he shook his head again. "Don't, not until they say you can." I could barely roll my eyes in protest, I only had enough strength to keep them open. I felt a small hand grab mine, and I looked around to see my niece gazing at me sadly.

"Will you be okay, Hasame-chan?" She asked timidly, and her face was beginning to flush, a sign of oncoming sobbing. I nodded slowly. How come even the smallest things were such a struggle for me now? If only I could just get a few minutes sleep, I was sure that I would be able to do a bit more than nodding.

"Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama! We have an em-"

"I see already, bring her in here!" Said a sharp voice, and the medics took me through two large double doors and into a rather dark room. I could see her amber eyes studying my wounds, and she nodded.

"Okay, put her down. I can take it from here." She said, and the medics put me gently down again. Once they had left, I spoke to Tsunade, who was examining my wound around my middle.

"H-hey, Hokage-sama...Can I go to sleep now? Everyone says I can't, but I want to." Tsunade's amber eyes slid over at me, and she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay awake during this whole operation." I blinked.

"Operation? I don't like seeing people sew my skin together thank you." Tsunade gave me the strangest of looks. I forgot, their operations consisted of chakra use and jutsus. Not back home where operations had meant drugging you, hooking you up to a machine that pratically breathed for you, and they would cover your head with a blue blanket so you couldn't see what disgusting things they were doing to help heal you.

"Oh, I remember you. You're that girl that requested the Uchiha stay with you in Sunagakure, correct?" Tsunade asked, now examining my wrists and ankles.

"Y-yeah...That's it." I muttered.

"You almost lost your left foot here." I heard her say, and my eyes shot open. "What?!" I was about to sit bolt up, but the open slice around my stomach stopped me from bending at the waist. Gritting my teeth, I laid back down on the stretcher again.

"Yes. It's barely holding on. I'm amazed you even survived this, truthfully." She said, and I could only look to the side. I hated being like this. I could barely move, I was so tired, but no one would let me sleep, I apparently could have just died from this injury, and I was too weak to even do anything.

"Alright, I'll let you in on this." Tsunade spoke after sometime, but I didn't reply. "Hasame?!" She snapped, and I grunted.

"Yeah?"

"Listen. Even if I do manage to close these wounds, you will have scars to prove it. And not just small, unnoticable ones. I mean these ones will never fade, they will be seen by everyone, and I can't do anything to make them invisible." She said, and I ran over what she said. Noticable scars...So, big ugly ones was what she was saying. I nodded in udnerstanding. She gave a curt nod, before putting both her hands on my stomach. I hissed when the palms of her hands contacted with the burnt skin, but she ignored it. Then, a soothing cool sensation worked its way around my middle, reaching up just below my bust line. It was then most wonderful feeling I had yet to encounter that day, and it made me want to sleep even more. I could feel inside my flesh almost stitching together painlessly. It seemed to go on a while, but soon the calming cool feeling was gone. She took my right arm, and brought it over so she could place both hands on my wrists. Isaw her close her eyes, and chakra made her hands glow a greenish blue, and the same soothing feeling returned. I felt my eyelids go heavy, and just thinking it wouldn't hurt to just _close_ my eyes, I rolled my head to the side, and closed them briefly. Suddenly, a finger flicked against my forehead. I snapped my eyes open to have Tsunade's face glaring down at me.

"Don't.Go. To. Sleep." She said sharply, and I sighed but nodded. She released my hands, and moved down to my ankles. I raised a hand to look at how she had healed them. From my vision of an ugly scar, was clearly less noticable than this. The skin was an unnatural pale, and it looked like someone had poorly stitched the skin together, leaving the white skin wrinkled around my wrist, like some demented bracelet. I wrinkled my nose at it, just in time to hear,

"I told you they would be noticable." I snorted in response, but let my hand flop to my stomach. I could feel the shreds of my clothing stop right below my chest. I stared at the ceiling with displeasure.

"Am I going to get new clothes?" I asked, and Tsunade appeared in my line of vision.

"Hospital gown, and that's it." She said, and gave me a grin. "Your done, but don't think that you can go to sleep." She frowned at my look of incredulility.

"Wha-why not? I'm healed, aren't I?" She shook her head.

"You have some burnt intestines, and your liver is blackened. You need to get that healed right away, and if you sleep, your heart will slow down its blood pumping, therefore not giving the required amount that the body needs currantly. You've lost an incredible amount, and you need your heart to keep pumping. Its barely giving enough blood as it is." She said, and I could only shake my head, sucking in all the information that she was giving me. Gaara was right. I didn't know how close to death I really was. Just proves how dense I am sometimes. She put a warm hand on my forehead, and I looked up at her.

"Stay alive for him, alright?" She said softly, and I just gazed at her, confused. "I'll give you a bit more strength, just to get your heart beating faster, understand? But no going to sleep. Not until this is all over." I nodded in conprehension, and she looked up, flicking her wrist forward. Medics appeared around me, once again lifting me and bringing me out of the room. I never even asked what room it was.

"Stay back please, wait until we get her set up in her room." Said a medic, and I released my gaze from the ceiling to look around me. Sakura was holding Sakura's hand (boy...that was confusing) and my niece was whining, trying to get at me. I waved my hand at her, saying silently that it would be okay. Sakura, the pink haired one, sighed in relief and picked up the little blonde.

"It's okay, your aunt will be alright. We can be the first ones to visit her, okay sweetie?" Sakura shushed the child, who was begining to cry.

oOoOo

Sooner than I had thought, I was set up in a bed next to the window, and the curtain was pulled back, me being the only person in my ward. There was a tape like strip across my wrist just above my new scar, that would keep tabs on my heart regulation. Sakura was beside me, having calmed down considerably now that she could clearly see I was alright. There were two medics still in the room, reading something on a clipboard. I remembered I still needed some healing to my organs. Sakura, the chuunin, was enjoying Sakura, my niece's company. The blonde was asking Sakura all sorts of questions. I guess I understood why. It was such a cool feeling, so incredible to meet characters that you've only read in books, or in this case, manga. You dream about them, and wish they were real. And when you finally come into their world. it literally is a dream come true. 'Cool' felt too much of a simple word. Overwhelming and you almost felt scared.

I laughed when Sakura asked her if the pink hair was real.

A medic came over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Miss, we really should finish the healing." I sighed, and nodded. He put his hands on my stomach, right above the scar, and a green glow emanated from his hands. I knew he was trying to do it as quickly as possible, but it still hurt rather much. He removed his palms, and nodded at me.

"There will be some discomfort for the next while. The res of the healing will have to be done naturally." I sighed again, and looked at him.

"Hey...Is it okay if -"

"Yes you can." I grinned, and finally was allowed to close my eyes. Instantly, I drifted off.

oOoOo

I could hear muttering around me, and I turned over on the bed. There was a soft fluttering, and I opened my eyes a bit, to see that the sheer curtain was blowing about because of the wind coming through the open window. The mutterings had stopped, and I looked over my shoulder, pushing my black hair away from my face. I blinked at everyone in the room. Aya, Sasuke, Noah, Raven, Kankurou, Temari, even Hinata, Kimyko and Atari were here with their children. Everyone seemed to beam when I looked over at them.

"Oh hey guys." I greeted, and shifted over so I could see them better. I winced when I moved, because my stomach still hurt considerably.

"AH, don't move, Hasame-nee-chan!" Said Aya, and slipped beside me onto a chair, and looked at me, her eyes filled with worry. I waved off her concern.

"I'm okay, really. He just said that I'd still be in a bit of pain. But nothing I can't handle, right?" I grinned at her, but she just shook her head.

"Hasame...Your so reckless..." She mumbled, and I breathed through my teeth. I knew I was. It wasn't one of my better qualities, but that's who I was. I guess I could change it...But I don't like changing things about myself that make me, me.

"But I'm so glad you're alive." She smiled, and took my hand, squeezing it gently. Sakura, the child, then ran up to me, and hopped on my bed.

"Auntie Hasame! You're all better, right?" She nearly shouted it, and I chukled, putting a hand on her blonde head. I nodded in response, and she grinned widely, before hugging me gently.

"I thought...That...You would go just like Mommy and Daddy..." I heard her whisper into the thin cloth of the hospital gown. I closed my eyes and rubbed her head soothingly. I looked up at the window, and saw the moon. How did I miss that before? Was it already night time?

"Hey...What time is it?" I asked, not to anyone in particular, but Noah spoke up.

"Its actually 9 pm...a day from yesterday." I goggled at him.

"I was asleep for an entire day?!" I yelped, and felt my jaw slacken.

"Actually, a day and a half. The time you were actually allowed to sleep was about 2 in the after noon." Corrected Raven, and took Suki from Atari, not before giving her a kiss on the cheek. The small infant remained silent, and Raven looked over at me.

"Wanna see Suki? You never really did get a chance to see anyone else, really...Considering..." Everyone seemed to fall silent, remembering what had happen the morning before. I looked away, slightly guilty at the fact that there was such a huge disagreement that morning. Raven brought over the three month old, and I held the baby close. He had the most amazing white eyes. I was worried that he was blind.

"Raven, is he-"

"No, just has very pale blue eyes. Look," He brought Atari closer, who smiled at me politely. He was right. Atari had the same eyes. I bowed my head respectfully, and looked back at Suki. The child had quite a lot of hair for such a young age. Dark dark brown, almost black.

"Your're a cute kid, you know that? Your gonna make all the girls swoon." I joked to him, but Suki only stared at me, his eyes wide. He made small gurgles in his throat, and hiccuped. I gave him back to Raven.

A boy with blazing orange hair was chasing a girl with short black hair, giggling and winding their way around objects and adults legs. The girl dove under my bed, and the boy protested angrily,

"No hiding under things!"

"Why not?" Said the high voice of the girl beneath the bed. I raised an eyebrow at the orange haired kid, who grinned toothily at me.

"Yo." Was all he said, before planting his hands on his hips and glaring angrily at the girl beneath the bed.

"Come on out already!" he whined, but I could imagine the child was shaking her head, grinning teasingly at him. Theere was a shuffling, and the black haired girl popped her head out the other side, and looked at me. Her almost black eyes shocked me, and we stared at each other for a second.

"You're..Hasame, right?" I asked, and she nodded.

"How'd you know?" She said, looking at me as if I was some wonderous thing. I smiled.

"Eh, I am all knowing." Instantly, she sat on my bed and stared at me.

"What else do you know?" I heard everyone start laughing, and I chuckled. I only shrugged my shoulders, and she soon lost intrest.

"So, who are you?" I asked the orange head, who pouted defiantly at me.

"If you're all knowing, wouldn't you know?" I blinked at him. What a sarcastic little guy. I snorted, and rubbed my forehead, giggling slightly.

"He's Hatori, our son." Said Noah and Kimyko, who had slightly reddish hair, with streaks of brown and blonde (and interesting combination), bent down and took Hatori;s hand.

"I'm Kimyko." She introduced herself, and I grinned at her.

"Well...I suppose you know me. Hasame." I reached out and shook her hand briefly. Seeing Hatori crossing his arms and his little attempt at being angry by glaring at me, reminded me of something.

"Hey..." I said, and eveyrone looked at me. "Where's Gaara?" Aya shot a look at Raven and Noah.

"On the roof...I can go get him if you want." She offered, but I shook my head.

"Nah. Let him go sulk or whatever he's doing." I grumbled, and just at that moment, a medic came in.

"Excuse me, but visiting time is over. If I may ask you all to leave now..." Everyone nodded, and said their goodbyes to me. Sakura looked at me wistfully, but I shooed her.

"Go stay with Aya and Sasuke, alright?" I told her, and she nodded in response.

"See you soon!" She said, waving and disappeared behind the sliding door.

It took me a minute to realise how quiet a hospital was. You could hear every clink of the pipes inside the walls, the scuttling of people on many floors below, but besides that, it was incredibly silent. I sank deep into the pillow, staring at the white ceiling. Everything in the room was a sterile white, giving it an uncomfortable, strict feel to the room. I was uneasy. I wanted to get out and do something. But my injury certainly wouldn't allow that, giving I just had a life-threatening accident. Not an accident. Deidara purposly attempted to murder me. I scowled at the ceiling. And he wasn't even killed. I wonder why Gaara hadn't just killed him on the spot.

I glanced out the open window into the night sky. I reached out, and slowly pulled away the sheets covering me. I just noticed I had bandages wrapped profusely around my wrists and ankles. Lifting my gown, I could see there was wrappings around my middle too. I sat up, and gritted my teeth against the throbbing pain in my abdomen, but ignored it and stood up. I wobbled, and nearly fell again. I tripped a few steps, but grabbed onto the window sill. I poked my head out to look up, but couldn't see past the edge of the roof. I coud feel that my chakra was low, but I had to get on to the roof.

I spotted my black shorts in the corner. After putting them on, I gathered what chakra I had into my hands and feet. Pressing the palms of my hands on the brick of the wall, I slowly scaled the building. After just reaching the edge of the roof, I lost grip on the wall. Quickly, I gropped for the edge of the roof, and took hold of it. I hissed, my hands were weak, and could not hold my entire body. Sand swirled above me, and formed a hand, grabbing hold of me and lifted me above the roof edge. I looked around and saw Gaara sitting as usual on the rooftop, glaring at me.

"What are you doing here? Get back to bed." He said sharply.

"I just wanted to see you, jesus." I snapped and frowned at the red head below me. He raised a non-existant eyebrow, but put me down gently a few feet away from him. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, waiting for a second for the pain to go away. It finally disappeared, and I was left staring at the moon. It looked incredibly huge from here.

"Deja vu, huh?" I said, and Gaara glanced at me. He only nodded, before returning to his original position. It had been twelve years since we last sat on a rooftop, neither of us talking. We were also in the same positions, me with my knees curled up to my chest, and him with one leg propping up his arm.

"So, you can sleep now too?" I heard him say after quite sometime. I jumped slightly, and thought about it.

"Yeah...I guess I got over my sleeping problem." I heard him make a noise, and looked over at him. He didn't look too interested, but I doubted that. "I guess being knocked out a comple of times solved it." I chuckled, attempting to make a joke, but he looked as serious as ever. I stared at him, unable to tear my spotlight gaze away. He looked the same as before, but...His face scuplted a different emotion I had yet to see on his face. It looked...Like deep inside, he was disturbed by something, and it showed that he was uncomfortable in his facial features.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked, after debating mentally whether to ask or not.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about." He grumbled and I was left staring at him. I sighed deeply, and rested my chin on my arms.

"Well, it's bothering me that you seem to disgruntled." I muttered, and he shot a look at me, about to retort, but seemed to think better of it, and closed his mouth, turning back to the sky. I was wondering what he was thinking about.

"You've grown, you know that?" He said, and I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well, I certainly hope so. I don't think I wish to have stayed 5 feet all my li-"

"That's...Not what I meant." He interupted. This made me even more wistful to know what he meant. One thing I noticed was that he wasn't looking at me. Or more over trying not to. When he didn't speak for quite a while, I was left to think for myself why he thought this. What I couldn't help remembering, was how much we had fought. Particularily about my becoming a Jounin. And I remembered being drunk quite alot. I chuckled at the thought, but he didn't take notice. I recalled the day I left, and the day I returned after spending 6 years back in my world.

"Gaara." I said suddenly, and he grunted. "Gaara!" I repeated, and he finally looked round at me a look that read 'what????'.

"I want to talk. All we do is be silent. We're always the ones that don't talk. About anything. With anyone." I said, continuing to watch him, not allowing him to tear his gaze away from me for one second.

"I mean...Everyone knows it. You know it, and I know it. But how come we don't let everyone know? Why won't we just...open up. I mean...what could possibly happen?" I admitted, raising my hands palm up. Gaara blinked a few times.

"We're already at the bottom. Nothing could get worse." I muttered finally, and wrapped my arms around my knees again. "You've already kissed me three times, and at one point, we thought...Well, I thought it would work out okay, but we fought again, and again, like we stupid people are," Gaara frowned at the word stupid, but didn't interupt. "And...Frankly, I'm getting tired of this. It's nonsense really. We no longer have nothing to be angry about at each other. Why don't we just come out and say it?"

"Because that's not who we are." He said finally after a few moments silence. I was taken aback by his answer, and he had already turned his back to me again. He was right. I propped my chin on my arms again, and raised my eyes to the moon. It looked so big from up here...

"Yeah...You're right...We aren't like that...But..." Gaara looked at me over his shoulder. "Is there..._Possibly_ some other way we could?" I sighed, and half closed my eyes. I was getting sleepy again. The many years of sleep depriviation was now catching up with me.

"I like it this way." He said, and I raised an eyebrow. I felt it was a so-so solution. It was almost like...we were together, but never showed it, even when alone with each other. It's almost like...Not really a relasionship, but it was there, like the wind. You can't see it, but you can feel it brush against your skin, or hear it whistle through the leaves of trees. We were off limits to anyone else, but in the same manner, off limits to each other. How rediculous was that?

"And it works...right?" I said, and gave him the smallest of smiles. He raised a non-existant eyebrow at me, and nodded, and I swore a hint of a grin played at his lips.

Sometimes, it may take a thousand years to realize what is important, but those who break apart their hard shell, will find it quicker than they imagine.

xxxx

I might as well not end chapters in an authors note if I have nothing to say. I dont have anything to say, except that this was basically about Hasame's struggle to stay awake. Man. That must suck big time. I say, give her a Red Bull! it gives you wings, didn't cha hear?!


	6. Chapter 6

Do you see the theme at the end of each chapter? Just wondering if you noticed it... lol! its at 6 now! This story has reached 6! which not many may find important, but i do, because well...6 really is an important number in this huge story, no? Six years it is between the changing of our world to the Naruto one, 6 years old is the age of Sakura, Hasame's niece and last living memember of her family, and 6 and 6 is twelve, the number of chapters in Tricked into Meeting. 6 Is an important number people. un un. And 3 which is half of 6, is the numbers of chapters that I have written non stop since last night. And I have pulled an all nighter! it is now 6...in the morning! woot!

was listening to that soft lullabye thing that you hear in episode 77 of Naruto, with little gaara sitting on the roof! It helped me with a few scenes.

and The Young and the Hopless by Good Charlotte. i love them...

A Thousand Years 6

I was released from the Konoha Hospital three days later. Tsunade had warned me that I could not be able to do anything that required a large amount of physical activity. Basically, it was resting until my organs would heal over completely. But them being burnt, and me still being alive, it would put some strain on them, and I had to be more delicate with them.

I looked at my wrists again, before slipping on the pale brown fingerless gloves over my hand, covering the scars completely. I crossed my arms over my black shirt, short sleeved and fishnet stuck out till my elbows. My black pants covered my legs entirely, and my black ninja shoes, a bandage wrapped around the left one as it had been burnt and I didn't trust the rubber to stay on, had been covering my scars around my ankles effectively. I had finally decided to pull my hair back, but my bangs were stubborn and hung on either side of my face. Aya joked that I wore too much black, but I waved my tan gloves at her, saying that they weren't black.

I watched the others wander around Konoha streets. They had wanted to stay, as it had been a while since they last were here. Sakura was with Sakura, obviously. I had to think up a nick name so I could call them without one thinking I was referring to the other, resulting in either they both answer me, or they both ignore me.

I had decided eventually to leave the group and explore a bit myself. At the Jounin exams, I didn't get to do alot of exploring, and now I could. Wandering around streets I let my thoughts wander. They lead to back at the Akatsuki hideout, and the torturing. I put a hand instinctivly on my stomach, where Itachi had put a genjutsu on me and stabbed me ferosiously with a katana. I still remember the beating heart that was pierced by the blade. Recalling the room I was in, I thought over what Deidara had said to me, the tone he spoke it in, and his actions. I shivered, remembering he at one point asked if 'he wouldn't mind if he took me'.

I stuck my tongue out in disgust to no one inparticular. With my palm against my middle, I could feel the bump of the scar run around my waist like a ring underneath my shirt. Sighing, I crossed my arms again, and proceeded to look around at what merchants had to sell.

I grinned slightly at all the items and how the sellars had tried to convice her to purchase their items. It was funny. Only four days ago...Possibly, I had long lost count, I was just in a society where credit cards were used, there were trains, and automobiles, computers, and many other eletronics that this era didn't have. It was slightly mind boggling. How different everything was. I spotted Aya and Sasuke 'window shopping' like I was with Hasame. The little black haired girl, from the back, was an odd reminder of myself. But whenever she turned and looked at me, her black eyes bore into my own blue ones, and it sent shivers up my arms. It was unnerving, her eyes looked so full of knowledge, of that of an old woman, but she was merely 4 years old. The girl however, whenever she looked at me, it was with such seriousness, and she reminded me slightly of myself, but I knew she was completely different from me.

Special, some would say. But I thought of it more as she was open for knowledge, so open in fact, that what ever she saw, heard, smelt, it was instantly recorded in her mind, and was frozen there, never to be forgotten.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned around to see a face I hadn't seen in nearly 8 years.

"Hasame?" I let my jaw slacken as I stared at Kiba. I nodded, and his face split into a wide grin. "It IS you!" I was crushed in a huge, and I gasped for air.

"Ah! Kiba! How are you?" I asked, as he let go of me, smiling wolfishly.

"So so. Where have you been? Don't tell me you had stayed in Suna all this time." He said and I grinned half-heartedly. If only he had known...

"Sort of. Hey, where's Akama-" The huge white dog was already on me before the words were out of my mouth. "Never...mind..." I attempted to say without getting dog slobber in my mouth. Akamaru stopped and started pawing at my head, bounding from side to side. I chuckled, and scrambled to my feet.

I scratched his course white fur, calming him down a bit. Kiba had snorted, but still was grinning.

"Missed me, didn't ya?" I asked, and smirked at him.

"Naah not at all." He joked and I laughed, shaking my head. "Oh hey...What happened to your hands?" I blinked, and looked down at my hands. The glove had fallen off, and my pale scar was visible through Akamaru's mass amount of fur. I quickly covered my wrist, and looked around for my glove.

"Er, it's nothing." But he had grabbed my hand, and I stared at him shocked, but he payed me no heed. I saw him examining my scar, a look of slight horror on his face. Gently, I tugged my hand out of his grasp.

"Really, it's okay." At that moment, I spotted my glove, and snatched it, tugging it over my hands and my fingers popped through the holes. I saw him give me a worried glance, but I waved my hand, indicating that he should just let it go. "Anyway, how's life? Pretty vague, I know." I asked, and pulled my hair out of my face, simultaniously wiping my wet face from dog saliva.

"Aaaah, well, nothing really is happening. I'm pretty proud of Hinata of course! Have you heard?"

"She's engaged to Kankurou, yeah. He told me." Kiba raised an eyebrow at me.

"Kankurou?"

"Oh yeah, we still live together, but the 'family' has grown. Now we have Aya, Sasuke, Hasame their 4 year old daughter, Noah, Kimyko and Hatori, 5 years old...Raven and Atari with Suki, 4 months, Temari and Shikamaru-" Kiba laughed at the mention of the certified genius.

"Heh I knew that would happen." I grinned and continued the list.

"They have Kyou, who I believe is 4 years old also, and as you know, Kankurou and Hinata." I noticed that there was an unusual uncertainty around him, as he was glancing around slightly. I tapped his shoulder and he looked at me.

"What?" He grinned, and cooly scratched the back of his head, and looked up at the sky, saying,

"So, obviously Gaara's still there, correct?" I nodded as he glanced back at me. "You still hate him though, right?" I frowned slightly in curiosity and slight suspicion.

"What are you getting to?" I asked, crossing my arms and gave him a slight smile. He only laughed, but I could tell it was forced.

"Ah nothing. Oh, yeah I'm still single, everyone else had to go get _married off_!" Kiba joked, and I felt my lips twitch, but not enough to laugh. "I'm still free ya know?" And he nudged me with his elbow, giving me a mischevious grin, but I just nudged back.

"Oh you'd better watch it, dog boy. I'm not free, unlike you." The look on his face almost made me regret saying that. It was a mixture of surprise and almost hurt. I was expecting the next question.

"Who?" He burst out. I held my lips tight, unable to decide whether or not I should come out and say it only the day after Gaara and I had come to an agreement. First off, I'd have to ask Gaara, and second, if I said I was taken, but not quite sure, still meant I was open. How could I say it without confusing him?

"It's...A secret. We don't know if we're ready to tell everyone yet." I tried to explain after a short pause for reconciliation. He still looked confused, but I couldn't help that. "Please, Kiba, I hope you understand." I pressed, wishing that he would. I really had no idea that he in turn was taking a liking to me. First it was Deidara, then Kiba...

"It's okay, I get it!" Kiba grinned, but I could tell he was still upset. I reached up and pulled my hair away from my eyes again. I took my long hair in my hand and looked at it, thinking whether I should cut it or not. I enjoyed it when it was short. Low maintenence. Kiba eyed the raven hair in my hand.

"I see you've grown it out long. Nice length." I looked up, and pressed my lips tight as not to laugh. But for once, I could not hold it in. I snorted, and gave a howl of laughter, as he looked at me in concern. "Did I say something funny?...I must of missed the punchline." I just shook my head, gasping for air as I feebly waved my hand as to say 'that's not it.'. After regaining my composure, I stood up straight and heaved a sigh, and noticed he was looking at me expectantly. I nodded in comprehension.

"It's just, my brother had told me that...about 6 years ago. Said he liked it better than my short hair." I explained, but he still looked confused. He didn't get it, but I saw the similarites, which made it funny. My brother...an image of his cheeky grin shone at me as he ruffled my short black hair, he 17 and I 14 years old.

_"But Beeeen! I don't want to go! Come on, what's the point of going to the car shop? Your car is fine!" A 14 year old girl with jet black hair protested to her older brother, who was patting her on the head, not paying attention to her at all. They stood outside the garage, him bent over his red Cadillac, tinkering with who knows inside the hood. the golden yellow summer sun shining above them, causing a glare on the crimson red paint on the car. Ben, his shaggy blonde hair streaked with natural lowlights was repeatedly being pushed out of his eyes by his nearly black hand, decked with oil and grease from the car, had thrown on a dark red shirt that was formed to fit and a pair of off white surfer shorts. His sister, Hasame on the other hand, was decked all in black. If it werent for her eyes, she would have looked like she had stepped out of an old black and white movie. Her short black sleeved shirt had fishnet reaching to her elbows, a crew neck and came to below her prosterior. Her black pants were on the verge of being too large for her, but two thick tan belts held the oversized pants up. Her black hair, that just skimmed the tops of her shoulders, was down as usual, was messy as usual, though surprisingly, she could pull it off without looking like she had just got out of bed. Silver blue eyes were framed by charcole black eyeliner, applied thickly and Ben had almost never seen her without it on. Except when she was a baby. He sometimes wondered if his sister had any common sense at all for wearing black in the middle of the summer._

_"No, one of the cylinders has a dent, the rad needs to be fixed, and I want to tune it up a bit." He said, cracked his back as he stood up straight and looked as his younger sister, her mouth open._

_"A what and a what needs what?" She spoke in a fast manner, planting her hands on her hips in defiant rebellion. "Listen, I know NOTHING about cars, all I know is that a pair of DICE does not go into a Cadillac. It's just..." She glanced inside the car's windshield into the interior, and wrinkled her nose. "Weird. What are ya gonna do with a pair of fuzzy dice? Gamble with them at the Pink Pony Casino?"_

_Ben snorted and shook his blonde head._

_"Sometimes, I doubt that we are even related." He sighed, and slammed the hood shut. Turning around and sat on the hood of the Cadillac, he patted to the empty space beside him, and Hasame jumped up beside him, looking to the stretch of empty green fields in front of their house._

_"Besides, when you say you want to tune your car, all I can think of is," And she proceeded to start strumming her fingers around her middle, and banging her head back and forth. Ben howled with laughter, and Hasame stopped playing the air guitar and grinned at her brother._

_"Mom isn't going to be home till later tonight, you know, she still has to work during the summer,"_

_"Oooh I envy her!" Said Hasame sarcastically, crossing her legs indian style and resting her elbows on her knees, planting her chin in her palms. Ben smirked._

_"So, I want you to come with me. Hey, you might meet someone." Hasame left her mouth agape and punched her brother squarely in the upper arm._

_"Hey! Why'd ya go 'n say that?!" She shouted, as the seventeen year old laughed and started running as his little sister chased him around the ruby red car, and she finally unlocked the Cadillac's door, hopped in and slammed it shut, locking the doors. Ben pressed his face against the window right beside her, his lips deforming and puckering, making a wet spot on the glass. Hasame shrieked and punched the glass, but not hard enough to break it, all the while laughing. She opened the door, after unlocking it, and ran out of the car and down the street, Ben taking long strides and soon caught up with her._

_"YAH HA! NO NO! LET ME DOWN! NO!" Hasame screeched, but could hardly make it sound serious, as she was laughing. Ben had flipped her over the back of his neck, and he started jumping around as if he was on a pogo stick._

_"Uuugh I'm gonna be sick!" She cried out, and immediately, he dropped her on the grass. She snorted, and looked up at him. "I can't believe you fell for that." She muttered, and Ben cocked an eyebrow at her. He glanced at his wrist watch. She saw his eyebrows disappear behind his blonde bangs._

_"Oh, we gotta get going. Dave said that he would was gettin' off his shift in 10, so we gotta get hopping." Just as he looked up, Hasame started bouncing around like she had mini trampolines on her feet._

_"Ya hear that, tree? We oughta get hoppin'! Cuz we gonna miss mister Dave if we dont, dont cha know?" She stated, talking to the apple tree, now its white flower petals just falling, getting ready for the apples that would soon grow in the autumn._

_"Okay, ya rabbit, let's go." Urged Ben, as he headed back to the laneway. Hasame looked over at him over her shoulder._

_"Oh, so I'm a rabbit now? Jeez, make up your mind! First I'm an annoyance, then I'm just plain silly, then I'm a raccoon-"_

_"Because you're like Gaara and never get any friggin' sleep, you bat." Said Ben, and tugged on the collar of Hasame's black shirt._

_"I resent that." She grumbled, as he pratically dragged her to the Cadillac parked in the laneway._

_"Remind me never, _ever_, to give you Red Bull again." _

I felt something prickle behind my eyes, and I quickly rubbed them with the heel of my palm. Kiba glanced at me, and I shook my head.

"Yeah, I think I will cut it short." I said aloud, and glanced down the steet. I turned to Kiba once again.

"Hey. It was great catching up, but I have something I need to do, okay?" I said quickly, and waved at him. He grinned and nodded.

"See ya!" He yelled as I ran back down the steet. My feet hitting the dirt road was the only thing I could hear, and the sound of me panting, running down to where I had seen Aya and Sasuke. I charged past stores and booths, past people and children, curved through the winding steets of Konoha. Just as I rounded what seemed like the seventh bend, I saw them both with Hasame. I sped up and tapped Aya on the shoulder. She turned, and beamed at me.

"Heya Hasame-nii-chan! What's up?" Aya smiled and faced me fully, and I grinned.

"Um, just need to know where-" I began, just as Hasame ran up to her mother, tugging on her skirt.

"Mum! Can I go play with Hatori-kun? Please?" Begged the four year old, and was pratically bouncing on the balls of her feet, her eyes glued to the dark haired boy with his mother, Kimyko. Hatori wasn't even paying attention to what his mother was looking around for, and he had begun to kick around a ball he found near a booth. It was leather, the two pieces stitched together rather poorly, the stitchings were large and thick, keeping the ball together successfully. Aya sighed and nodded. The girl was set off like a rocket towards Hatori, who looked up from the ball and grinned when Hasame had called his name. I watched them kick the ball back and forth, laughing and giggling like small children do. Suddenly, Hatori had kicked the ball a bit too hard and sent it slamming straight at Hasame's chest, knocking her backwards on her rear. I saw Hatori freeze in fear, then bolted to Hasame's side. She was sniffling, and I could tell it was hard for her to contain her tears. Hatori was speaking to her, probably apologizing repeatedly, but Hasame grinned through her unshed tears. She mouthed the words 'I'm alright', and I blinked. Hatori stood up and held out a hand to Hasame, who gratefully took it, getting to her feet. She quickly hugged the boy, who laughed and pushed her away playfully.

"Hasameee...Didn't you want to know something?" I heard Aya say, and I snapped back, looking at her, slightly dazed. I had forgotten what I had wanted.

"Um...Yeah, I was wondering if we could go home? I'm not feeling too hot...You know." I explained. Originally, I had wanted to go see Gaara, but I really wanted to be back in my own house again. My head was aching ever so slightly, and Aya gave me a concerned look, but nodded, and called Hasame and Hatori over.

oOoOo

It had taken an hour to get everyone together, plus nearly a day or two's travel to head back to Suna. I don't want to get into details about the trip, but Gaara made it all the easier by transporting us all by sand, using it as a platform similar to the one he used when I was injured. When we touched base, everyone noticed the sky was growing dark, and they all headed off to bed. I saw Gaara walk into the huge house, and I could tell he was as tired as I was. If not more, due to using a large amount of chakra transporting everyone. I watched him go upstairs, and I followed him, heading off to my own bedroom close to his. I stripped from my black clothing, putting on the white pajamas that I had gotten a while ago. I found that they were much too hot, and decided to just sleep in an over sized t-shirt and black underwear. It being white, I wouldn't cook to death in the heat of the blankets and desert air. I slipped under the covers, putting my head to the pillow and allowing the smell of fresh sheets overcome my senses. It was amazing, the smell of a clean bed could do for an exhausted person. It almost was like I drank up the aroma, filling me, giving me energy. Not enough to be hopping around, but enough that it wouldn't take me forever to go to sleep from over-exhaustion. I flipped over to face the window, the full moon shining straight through my window and illuminating the entire room with it's blueish glow. I raised my arms above my head, stretching my tense muscles, sighed and stared out into the deep blue sky. I felt the feeling of sleep hang lazily above me, almost teasing me, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the sleep to finally give up the game and descend upon me.

_Black surrounded me, and I looked around. Where was I? Glancing down, the ground looked like it was water, rings floating around me and traveling away, soon disappearing whenever I moved. But the black water was slowly dying red. I frowned, and scrutinized the seemingly black void I was in. There were bodies around me, counting six. My stomach gave a dangerous heave, as the blood pooled around them and seeped into the black waters beneath my feet. I recongnized some of the faces that were splattered with blood and slashed violently. I felt sick just looking at them. I saw my mother, my niece, my older brother who's eyes were still open, blank and staring._

_"Sakura? Mom...Ben..." I shook their shoulders. "Get up please. Wake up." Wait. Mom and Ben were already dead...I glanced at them, wincing slightly at their mangled bodies. I suddenly felt like I hadn't known them enough than I should have. I had missed on so much. Six years had passed, and who knows what had happened in those years? I spotted three more bodies. Aya, Noah and Raven, all staring at me with dead eyes. I stared at them, breath suddenly rushed out of my lungs in fear. "No..." I breathed, and got to my feet shakingly, wobbling as I walked._

_I couldn't speak. Aya's short hair spread out behind her, and right in front of my eyes, it elongated, and she seemed to shrink, her womanly curves disappearing, her adult face reducing to that of a teenager. Fourteen year old Aya laid before me. The same thing happened to Noah and Raven, and my knees trembled, giving way. My knees hit the waters, no sound was heard, but the water was disturbed only slightly._

_Something fell with a thud and I twirled around just in time to see Temari and Kankurou flop to the ground, both dead, blood seeping into the large body of water. When they touched the liquid, they too returned to the ages that we had met them._

_I tried to speak their names, but my voice was tight and I couldn't make any noise. I got to my feet, shaking uncontrollably now. What was happening to everyone? I ran unsteadily towards them and fell to my knees. Blood stained my hands and my skin, along with my white t-shirt. My legs just couldn't function anymore. If I wanted to get anywhere, I'd have to crawl._

_'Oh please, please don't be Gaara next!' I wished, feeling very sick right now. As if some insane god had heard me and decided to torture me some more, I turned just in time to see Gaara appear out of no where, like a ghost. Then, something slashed across his chest, blood splurting out everywhere and splattered against my face. He fell to the ground with a thud, unmoving, ripples emanating from beneath him in the black water. My throat unlocked._

_"NO! DAMNIT!" I shrieked and flopped to the ground completely, my forehead in the pools of blood. "No, no no no. NO!" I repeated, lying on the ground in overwhelming sorrow. Suddenly, a white hot pain sliced across my throat. I choked, raising a hand to the deep gash in my throat. I glanced at my hands and feet, just in time to see blood seep through the scars, running in thick streams, colouring the water around me red with my own blood. My skin slit opened my neck, and I felt the warm crimson liquid ooze out and onto my shirt, dying it crimson red. Everything was fading, and I attempted to scream, but it was a sickening gurgle that rose from the deep wound on my neck, the blood bubbling. Tipping forward, my face was plunged into the black and crimson waters, sinking with each passing second. I opened my eyes once more, to see my reflection in the water, short black hair, silver blue eyes, an almost straight body. My fourteen year old self stared back at me, raising a pale hand towards me. I didn't have any strength to even reach out, but the teenager took my hand anyway, and she seemed to melt away in the dark water._

My eyes flew open and I snapped my body upright, panting heavily and my body was shining with sweat. The sheets were damp from my thrashing about. My heart raced and my body seemed to pulse with the fear that had risen up inside. My hand flew to my neck, feeling it for any slashes. I glanced at my wrists and waist, and saw it was blood free. I inhaled deeply more than once, attempting to calm my rapid heart beat. Shivering, I had the feeling of being unsafe. I wiped my wet face with the back of my hand, and gulped a few times. The slight nausea that had risen up in the dream was making me feel slightly sick. I could feel eyes upon me, and I searched the dark room frantically. Burying my face in my clammy hands, I shuddered. The dream was so vivid, and it was burned into the back of my eyes.

Slipping the damp sheets off my legs, I slipped shakeningly from the bed, and nearly stumbled but caught my footing. I took the cold metal doorknob in my sweaty hand, twisted it open and peered out into the hallway. I took a step, leaning against the way to steady myself. My legs were shaking and they could barely hold my weight. My arms felt weak too, and my head was rushing, as if I had hung upside down for a long period of time, then suddenly was put up right quickly. I felt too hot, like an internal furnace was put on too high, and the valve that kept it in check had broken. The nightmare was just so...Real.

I put a hand to stable myself beside a door frame. I knocked gently, making a soft rapping sound against the wood. I rested my forehead on the cool walls, much cooler than my room. The sight of everyone dying right in front of me...Everyone that I loved. Nothing could erase that from my memory.

Gaara opened his door, looking disheveled and downright pissed that someone had woken him up. The moment he laid eyes on me, he perked up, concern etched on his hard features.

"Hasame." He said curtly, but his eyes said 'What the hell is wrong with you?'. I leaned back from the wall, and my head swam, knocking my center of balance off completely. Gaara's hand snatched out and grabbed my wrist, making sure I didn't fall back.

"T-thanks..." I said hoarsely. I grabbed his closed fist over my wrist, and leaned forward slightly. Once I got my balance corrected, Gaara tried to catch my eye, silently asking again what was going on. I glanced quickly into his eyes, then away, now feeling ashamed for interupting his sleep with my own problems.

"Just...nightmare..." I explained, and he tilted his head back slightly, giving a short nod. "I feel kinda sick too." I could see Gaara's feet shifted an inch away from me, and I couldn't help but grin slightly. I looked back up at him, the ghost of a smile still on my lips. "I just...wanted to see if you were alright...Okay, that was stupid." I chuckled, and rubbed my forehead. "What I meant was-" A finger was pressed to my lips and I stopped talking. I sighed, and pulled away from him. "Thanks." I whispered, and he muttered a 'Your welcome'.

"I'm going to go check on Sakura." After he closed the door, I shuffled down the hall, still unsteady but I felt a little better. I opened a door around the corner, everything was dark. I remembered that Hasame, Sakura, Kyou and Hatori had wanted to share a bedroom. I slipped in quietly, and closed the door, enveloping the room once again in darkness. I sneaked over to Sakura's bed, and crouched down to my knees, touching her blonde hair by her face. The touch was as light as a feather, gently stroking it away from her peaceful sleeping face. It had looked like Hasame had crawled into bed with Sakura, probably having had a nightmare of her own and seeked comfort, instantly going to her friend. I turned back to Sakura, breathing softly through her small pink lips. I smiled at her.  
She was more like me than she knew. I remembered when Aya had come over for a sleep over, I was about 13, and she had just had her birthday in march, so she was 14 at the time. I of course, couldn't sleep, and was lying awake, staring at the tiles on the ceiling of our basement, a blanked wrapped around me as I was exceptionnaly cold that night. I had thought Aya was peacfully asleep on the couch above me, when I heard her move. I looked beside me, and she was kneeling next to my bed, her face was red. She had explained the bad dream she had, where she was being chased by something, and it would devour messily all her friends. She always insisted on hugging me, even though I hated it, but that night, I allowed her to sleep next to me, to feel warmth, and to know that she wasn't alone.

I swivled my head around to look at the two boys. Kyou looked like he had kicked all of his blankets off, and was now shivering slightly. I pulled the blanket back over him, and he groaned something, before flopping on his stomach, drool dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. I grinned, and looked at Hatori. At first, I thought that he was asleep, but his pale eyes were watching me intruigingly.

When I moved over to him, he recoiled slightly, and said in a hushed tone,

"Are you the white lady from my dream? Are you gonna eat my soul?!" He said, alarm raising in his voice, but I shushed him, putting a pale hand on his brow.

"No I'm not. It's me, Hasame." I could see his eyebrows shoot up.

"Hasame?" He sat up, "You've grown." I stiffled a bit of laughter.

"No no, Big Hasame. Your father's friend. What White Lady are you talking about?" I asked, and he looked to his left, guilt passed over his face.

"I...I had a dream that this lady all in white with really really black hair walked up to me, and she didn't say anything, but I was really scared. She was scary..." His voice trailed off, and I chuckled slightly. Patting his head, I whispered,

"Don't worry. So far, I'm the only White Miss with black hair like this, and I certainly won't eat your soul. It's too crunchy." I joked, and he giggled, feeling reassured. I touched his nose with the tip of my own, then pulled away, and started to walk towards the door when I heard him say,

"Can..." I glanced over my shoulder at the little boy, who was looking slightly uncomfortable. "Can I call you oba-chan?" I blinked. I was surprised, but nodded, grinning.

"Yeah...course you can." Oba-chan meant aunt, and I was truly touched that he wanted to call me that. I backed out of the room, shooting one last look into the children's bedroom. Two boys and two girls, the girls as close as sisters. They really were so much like us when we were younger.

I stood still in the dark hallway, not knowing what to do next. I didn't feel tired anymore, that nightmare giving me a real fright. I looked down at my bare legs, and thought about putting on pants if I wanted to go up on the roof. Quickly getting into black pants, I traveled to the roof, the crisp night are blowing my long black hair around. I sat down, leaning over my knees and stared at the huge full moon. At times like this, it really makes one think deeply about things. Not like I didnt on a daily basis anyway.

My ebony hair started catching stray grains of sand that had blown up when the wind swept over the desert just beyond the village. The immense stretch of solely sand, was always majestic to me. No matter how far you looked, even with a telescope, you couldn't see the end of it.

Everything was so quiet, there was no activity in the entire village. It was like the day the snow first fell in winter, everything was muffled around your ears, and you just took the time to appreciate how beautiful the white snowflakes falling down and mingling with your hair or on your face.

Even with the wind soaring across the village, it was silent all around, the wind whispering softly in your ear, telling of secrets in a completely different language.

I guess the mission searching for a portal back to our world was a failure. We found the Akatsuki, found out why they did it, but never found out how they got there. It wasn't like we could go right back there, go up to them and ask,

"Hey! You're the one who tried to kill me! By the way, how'd you get to my world? Ya know, the one where you blew my house up?"

I sighed heavily, stretching my bare toes, hearing them crack slightly. I rubbed them together. My feet were freezing again, same with my fingers. I shoved my hands in my pockets, hoping to warm them. Goosebumps erupted on my arms and the back of my neck. Finalyl deciding to go inside and get a sweater, I disappeared in a poof of smoke, then reappeared in my room. Quietly checking my drawers, I pulled out a black knitted sweater and slipped it over my head, flipping my long hair out of the collar.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the hallway. I quickly poked my head out of the door to see Kimyko step out of her bedroom. She spotted me and waved.

"Hi. Sorry, I just couldn't sleep. I'm going to go out back, alright?" She whispered, and I nodded.

"I'm gonna be up on the roof," I explained, "So if you need me, I'll be there, okay?" She grinned and nodded in response, before turning on her heel and heading downstairs to the back door into the backyard. I climbed up on the roof and sat back, once again getting lost in the sky filled with stars.

It was silent for a long while, and I started wondering if Kimyko had gone back inside. Getting on my stomach, I crawled to the edge of the roof, peering down to the dusty backyard. It was dark, but my eyes had long gotten used to the blackness, and I could see a figure. 'Must be Kimyko.' I thought, but squinted. It was too large a figure to be Kimyko. She was a tiny thing, but this looked to be the size of two people. I frowned, blinking forcefully to get a bit to allow my eyes to get used to the dark even more. It was definitly two people. One seemed to be holding the other at arms length. One person looked smaller to the other. My eyes widened. It was Kimyko, and it looked like she was being strangled. I thought about going inside to get help. 'NO! You don't have time! Just go get her!' I ordered myself.

"HEY!" I yelled, and leapt down to the ground, bursting across the ground. The two got closer, and I could surely make out a large person was holding Kimyko by the throat, and she was weakly trying to scratch at their hands around her throat. Without bothering to see who was choking her, I launched myself at the attacker, knocking them to the ground. Kimyko collapsed, but I had yanked out a kunai from my belt on the inside of my pants I had customized myself. My kunai was held to the person's throat, and I finally got a good look at who was strangling Kimyko. Baki's black eyes smirked up at me. I was so shocked, my reaction time was slow. He raised a hand and knocked me off him with a single punch, sending me a foot to the right. I gasped as a dull pain erupted in my head from the impact. I whipped my head around to see him spring to his feet.

"B-Baki?!" I said alarmed, the kunai loose in my hand, "Wha-? Why? Huh?!" I could barely get my words to form around my lips. He didn't answer, but as I got to my feet, I saw Kimyko stilll laying there, immobile. 'She's just unconsious from lack of oxygen, that's all.' I reassured myself, but heard a whistling as a kunai was flung at me. I shifted to the side, barely dodging the weapon. I lept at him again, covering his face with my hand. We both fell backwards, and my grip on his face was still tight. I felt my hand peel at something, and as I looked at my hand, it was taking his skin with it. I shot a glance at Baki's face before I fell backwards and saw a golden eye gleam at me.

My heart stopped and I landed hard on my back. In my hand was a mask like peel, and I stared at the man rising from the ground a few feet away from me. He took off the wrappings around his head, and long sleek black hair tumbled past his shoulders, a pale face shone in the moonlight, his slitted pupils sparkling with mirth.

Orochimaru grinned toothily at me, approaching me with slow steps. I gritted my teeth, throwing the mask peel aside, and clutched the kunai tightly in my hand. As fast as lightening, he flew at me, throwing swift kicks and punches at me. I dodged them all, planting my feet on the ground and springing up in the air, then shot back down at him, slashing at him with the kunai. Something grabbed my wrist, and I stared horrified and the incredibly long tongue grasping my hand. I shouted, and felt like cutting off the evil tongue, but he had grabbed the hand that I held the kunai in.

"Nice movements." He hissed, and I recoiled disgustedly. I yanked at my hand slipping through the tongue but I had to let go of my kunai.

"Get away from me, you freak!" I yelled, and slid into a fighting stance. My eyes slid over to Kimyko again. She wasn't moving.

"Why are you here, you fuck!?" I demanded, not taking my eyes off of the creepy Sannin before me. He leaned slightly to the side, his eyes glinting and a shiver shot up my spine.

"And why would you want to know that?" He grinned, licking his pale lips. I frowned, and threw a senbon hidden in my sleeve at him. He leaned to the right, dodging it easily.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" I repeated, my lips forming a snarl. He only chuckled, and that infuriated me even more. "TELL ME!" I roared, and launched myself again at him, aiming a crescent kick at his head, but he caught my foot. I twisted my body and punched at his head, gathering chakra in it to deliver a deadly blow. He ducked just in time, and I was thrown off balance. He threw me to the side, and I caught myself, twisting into a backflip and landing on all fours, glaring at Orochimaru.

"You know Aya Mikage, correct?" He asked, crossing his arms and raising a finger to his cheek, looking at me expectantly.

"Why would you want to know?" I growled. He smirked again.

"She's the wife of Sasuke-kun, as I have heard." I wrinkled my nose.

"The heck, you twisted creature!? What, do you STILL want him or something?! I thought he left!" I demanded, and I got to my feet, my knuckled cracking when I clenched them tightly. Orochimaru nodded.

"Oh yes, he did leave. That's why I want to kill him. You see, I can't have him telling everyone where I am, and obviously he does not wish to join me anymore. So I must eliminate him." He explained, while my face was pulled into that of disbelief.

"That...is the most twisted reason I have ever heard. But its you of course." I snarled, and put my hands together. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" I yelled, puffing my chest up and forcefully exhaled the huge fireball, aimed directly at Orochimaru standing a few feet away from me. I saw it envelop him, and I waited to hear his scream of agony from the white hot flames, but none was heard. Instead, the Orochimaru disappeared in a poof of white smoke, appearing a few feet away from my attack.

"Wha-...WHAT THE HELL?!" I screamed, and quickly made another hand seal. This one would surely get rid of the slimey snake.

"Katon: Jigoku Kōka no Jutsu!" Once again, I puffed out my chest, gathering all the air I could, and fire exploded from my mouth into the dark sky, illuminating it. An immense fireball was formed and it hung for a few seconds, before arching high, then came crashing down directly on the spot where Orochimaru stood.

"DIE ALREADY YOU STUPID SNAKE!!" I yelled, and before the fire ball fell, I grabbed Kimyko, rushing to a safe area. The fire ball should have exploded when it came in contact with the ground, and devour Orochimaru, burning him to a crisp.

Shielding Kimyko with my body, I felt the wave of heat wash over my back. It was silent, then I heard a sort of giggle. Turning around, I saw Orochimaru directly behind me. He snickered, and I only stared mouth open.

"You like those fire techniques, don't you?" He asked, eyes gleaming. I recoiled, and put Kimyko gently on the tree trunk.

"Why won't you die already?!" I screamed, a flicker of fear rising in my gut. Before I knew it, his hand was caressing my cheek, the coolness of both our skins making it unable to tell whose skin was whos.

"Well, you're a talented one, aren't you? Just like you were back then." He smiled, revealing his pointed teeth.

"EW! What the hell?!" I shoved his hand away, and pulled out another kunai. Feeling the lightness in my belt, I knew this was my last one I had in my possession. The black haired shinobi only grinned one last time, before suddenly disappearing in a poof of smoke. Coughing, I cleared the smoke away, leaving to stare at the burnt area, the sand black with soot. I glanced down at Kimyko by the base of the spruce tree that had the swing hanging from one of the branches. She still wasn't moving. My heart raced, and I quickly pressed my index finger against the area below her jaw, feeling for a pulse, anything. I waited, and waited. I couldn't feel anything. I put my ear to her lips, but there was no air rushing out. Slowly, I pulled back. She was dead. He had successfully killed her. I slowled my heavy breathing, and soon, I could barely breathe.

I pressed my fore head to the dry bark of the tree, as it slowly crumbled on to the top of my black roots. I heard movement inside the house, and lights had turned on.

The back door swung open, and three people ran out.

"Hey, what happened?! I heard a...oh my..god..." I heard Aya ask the others, and she stopped. They probably saw the black sand that covered the back yard. There was the sound of running feet, and Noah and Raven appeared next to me, Aya following closely behind them.

"H-Hasame! What...what happened here?!" The demanded, but I was slow to answer. Shakeningly, I pulled my head away from the tree trunk, revealing Kimyko beside me. I saw Noah's pupils contract in fear.

"Noah...I'm sorry...I tried everything I could...I wasn't fast enough..." I whispered, lowering my head to stare at my knees. I felt him jump to Kimyko's side. I knew he was checking for a pulse like I had, but I knew he had found none.

"N-Noah..." Raven said quietly, and I heard Aya sob. I couldn't stand being there anymore. It only made things worse in my case. I rose to my feet, and backed away three steps when Noah said, his voice unstable.

"What happened? Who did this?" I bit my lip, and peered through my black bangs.

"Oro...Orochimaru." I heard two intakes of breath, and knew Raven and Aya had gasped in surprise. I nodded. "I saw them on the rooftop, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I was slow. I thought she was only unconsious when I got to her...But...well, you know..." I took a few more steps back and walked back to the house. There was a sob, and I cringed. It wasn't Aya.

A thousand times will the bird cry before it's voice is lost, but the echo continues forever.

xxxx

OMG! i finally finished this!! It took me freakin forever! Anyway, yeah, my first character death. I like killing people off! Don't worry, It wont become a habit! Lol, anyway, sorry for making you all wait!


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